Disgaea: When Netherworlds Collide
by KappeZ
Summary: When a mysterious broken gate is discovered emitting a powerful demonic force, Laharl and his vassals decide to investigate. But they soon discover new worlds and enemies lie beyond...  Post-Disgaea 1 fanfic.
1. A New Discovery

_**KappeZ:** Greetings! This is my first ever fanfiction. Takes place after the 'good' ending in Disgaea, so for those who haven't beaten the game, there are spoilers.__ Constructive reviews will be appreciated! Thanks.  
_

_Disclaimer: Umm...yeah...Obviously I don't own Disgaea, considering this is a fanfiction. Same applies for later chapters. Anyway, on with the story..._

* * *

**Disgaea: When Netherworlds Collide**

King Laharl sat upon his throne, waiting. How he hated waiting. His fingers rapped impatiently upon the armrest. _My vassal should be back by now,_ he thought irritably, _what's taking him so long?_ He let out a wide yawn, the force of which shook the chamber within his castle, causing some lesser demon servants to stir, daring not to look like they weren't busy doing something. Laharl rested his head in his right hand, the ring finger of which bore the signet of the overlord. His index finger began to tap upon the side of his head as he continued his wait.

Several minutes later, a figure suddenly appeared below his throne, kneeling. "Lord Laharl, I have returned," his deep voice came.

"About time," Laharl grumbled, making no effort whatsoever to conceal his impatience. It was Ricon, one of his most loyal vassals. A master of the shinobi arts, he was a formidable force in battle, and his abilities as a scout were unmatched among Overlord Laharl's servants. "Well, did you find anything?" Laharl asked gruffly.

"I discovered an old gate on Blackness Peak that was releasing the strange energy we detected not too long ago," Ricon reported. "I do not know who built it, or where it leads, but it appears to be broken down."

"Broken down?" Laharl said with an air of disappointment. "Can it be repaired?"

"I believe so, if we brought a skilled repair team, and a dimensional gatekeeper to operate it."

"Hmhmhmm...good. Fetch Zaeon, and tell her to assemble a repair team."

"At once, my lord." Ricon stood up, bowed, then disappeared in a flash.

_Where could this gate lead?_ Laharl wondered. Wherever it lead, there must be something powerful living on the other end for it to emanate that strong demonic power he had sensed all the way from the castle. The thought of it made Laharl grin with excitement. _If I defeat whatever's on the other side, I will truly prove my power as the greatest Overlord in all the netherworld._

"**Haaaaahahahahahaha!**" Laharl laughed out loud, startling some nearby prinnies.

* * *

Fallen Angel Flonne was tending to a garden of flowers she had planted in the palace courtyard. It was an open air layer of the castle that stuck out like an oversized balcony. The large crescent moon shone brightly in the starry netherworld sky, as Flonne cheerfully sprinkled water upon some yellow and purple flowers. She suddenly felt a presence behind her and spun around hastily, spraying water everywhere. "Oh! You scared me!" squeaked Flonne.

Standing there was Zaeon, the royal attendant. She was no taller than Flonne, with curled golden hair tied into french braids. Her dreamy blue eyes reflected the moon's light, like two crystal mirrors. Zaeon's sunrise-blue gown was now partially wet from the spray of Flonne's watering can. "Oh, I'm sorry." Flonne apologized.

"It's alright, mistress Flonne." Zaeon reassured dreamily. Due to her mild and polite demeanour, sometimes it was hard to believe she was a demon. Then again, as Flonne had learned, demons were capable of love and kindness, even manners too.

"Please, you don't have to call me that. Just 'Flonne' is fine."

"You remind me so much of her..." Zaeon trailed thoughtfully. "I cannot help but address you like I did her."

"Excuse me, but who?" Flonne leaned forward curiously.

"The late Queen, Lord Laharl's mother. I was her attendant when she lived here in the palace."

"Oh..." Flonne trailed into reminiscence of the woman whom she had met in prinny form. It was her that had given Flonne medicine when she had lost her pendant, back when the demonic aura of the Netherworld was too potent for her as an angel trainee. Now that she had become a Fallen Angel though, this was no longer a problem. Laharl's mother had passed on now, with the rest of the prinnies who were fortunate enough during the last Red Moon.

"Are you alright, miss Flonne?" Zaeon inquired, noticing Flonne's vacant expression.

"Oh, sorry, I'm fine." Flonne blushed, shaking her head out of the clouds. "I just got lost in thought."

Zaeon smiled and turned to face the flowers by the open end of the courtyard, where the night sky twinkled agelessly. "My Lady would have been happy to see this garden. It's very beautiful."

"Thank you," Flonne beamed. "I thought the palace could use some pretty flowers to cheer everyone up."

Zaeon continued to smile serenely. Though Flonne had become part-demon, her simple, angelic demeanour hadn't changed at all.

Just then, a loud sneeze issued from behind a bush with scarlet blooms. Out stepped a tall, lean male demon with wild white hair, and was wrapped in dark ninja garb covering most of his features. "Zaeon, I have orders from Lord Laharl," he stated, rubbing his nose.

"Oh Ricon, are you OK?" Flonne asked in concern, noticing the shinobi's passive eyes were watery and slightly red.

"Allergies." Ricon sniffled.

"Oh my..." Flonne said dismally, never imagining her flower garden could cause harm.

"What is Lord Laharl's command?" Zaeon prompted mildly, but held a serious attention for the response.

"You are to gather a dimensional gate repair team, and report to His Highness at once." Ricon continued to rub his nose, wishing he had tissues instead of kunai in his back pocket.

"Very well, I will go at once." Zaeon bowed politely to both of them, then turned and left the courtyard. Her light footfalls were heard until she disappeared down a hallway, out of hearing range.

Flonne felt sorry for the pollen-intolerant ninja, and reached for a handkerchief she kept in her dress pocket. But once she had produced it, Ricon was nowhere to be seen. Alone once again in her courtyard of flowers, the Fallen Angel let out a lonely sigh.

* * *

A small flock of prinnies trotted down the red draped hallway of the palace. The thumping of their peg legs upon the carpeted stone palace floor could be heard like the sound of a small troop of soldiers marching on stilts. Held in front of them were large silver plates the size of tires, bearing chocolates, cakes, and other sweets. They were bantering indignantly amongst themselves as they usually did.

"Why does master Etna need all these sweets? There's enough here to feed a small army, dood."

"Don't ask me, dood. But one thing's for sure, she's not gonna share 'em."

"Careful dood! Don't drop any, or she'll have our hides!"

"Do you think she'd notice if we just snuck a couple?..."

"Dood, are you crazy? I'm not taking any chances. She only orders this much when she's depressed or grumpy. I sure don't want to be on her bad side when she's like that. It's suicide, dood!"

"If she pigs out like this so often, I'm surprised she isn't fat and bloated. Now that would be a funny sight, dood."

The prinnies began to chuckle amongst themselves at the thought of their tyrannical master round and inflated like a giant beach ball.

"What's so fuuunny?" a high, playful voice came from down the hallway. Ahead of them, peering at them from behind a corner, was a young female demon, with cascading blue hair that nearly touched the floor. Though relieved it was not their master Etna, the prinnies were still alarmed at the sight of Nikka, also one of Etna's vassals. Her innocent face concealed mischief and slyness.

"N-nothing's funny, dood. Nothing at all," one of the prinnies insisted in vain.

"Oooohhh! Watcha got there? Are those chocolates?" Nikka hustled down the hall toward the plate-bearing prinnies, arms swaying girlishly. She wore a frilled navy blue dress that widened out beyond the waist, ending just above her knees, and a frilly hair band with ribbons tied to the side that made her look like a classy maid. Her white stockinged legs ended in a pair of red shoes. Her ocean blue eyes were fixed greedily upon the nearest plate of sweets.

The prinnies backed up as an apprehensive unit. "These are for master Etna, dood!"

"Just a couple..." Nikka bent over one of the plates, an eager hand held towards a small dark chocolate éclair.

"No way dood, I don't wanna be turned into a skewered roast tonight." The prinny holding the plate turned it away from Nikka's nabbing fingers.

"Awww, too bad," Nikka pouted, turning away. "Guess I'll just have to go and tell mistress Etna what you said about her..." She slowly began to walk off.

"N-no! Wait, dood!" The effectively blackmailed prinnies began to cluster around her, each holding out a sugary offering. "Just a couple, OK dood?"

Nikka giggled triumphantly and cutely popped some chocolate into her mouth, noisily savouring the flavour. After having more than a couple of sweets, she bid a triumphant 'bye-bye!' and happily pranced out of the hallway.

"It just sucks to be us, dood," one prinny indicated direly.

After re-arranging the sugary morsels on the plates to hide the absence of Nikka's indulgences, the prinnies marched stiff-beaked into Etna's chamber. It was a lavishly decorated room in the palace, lined with pink and black drapings, and a heart-shaped mattress in the center, on top of which Etna was lazily reclined. "About time you got here. You shouldn't keep a girl waiting," Etna scolded.

"Here's what you ordered, dood." The prinnies trotted up to their mistress, presenting their burden as if serving royalty. For all-practical purposes, they were. One by one they placed the plates onto the mattress before her. Etna grinned with delight at the many sweet morsels before her. She began to sample them, issuing a loud 'mmmmm!' of approval. The prinnies began to slowly back out of the room, hoping Etna would be too distracted to notice their absence.

"Hey! Something's missing here!" Etna declared indignantly.

The prinnies instantly froze in their tracks, breaking into a nervous sweat. Their peg legs clanked together like a nervous drumstick solo.

"Oh, there it is!" Etna pulled one plate closer that was out of her view, bearing a quadruple chocolate cake. She produced a bizarrely large fork, and began devouring it.

Each prinny let out a mutual sigh of relief as they quickly exited their mistress' chamber. "That was too close, dood. I thought we were goners."

"Yeah, I thought for sure she would have noticed some were missing, dood."

"Now that you mention it, I thought there were fewer éclairs than I ordered."

The prinnies nearly jumped out of their skins from the sound of Etna's voice right behind them. As if in slow-mo, they spun around to find their mistress towering over them, bearing her spear, the mighty Longinus, and a sadistic grin that told them they were beyond dead meat.

"W-ww-w-w-wait dood! W-we can explain." pleaded a prinny, sinking lower still.

"Oh really? Well that's too bad. I'm in a bad mood today, so I really don't feel like listening. Since I don't have all the sweets I ordered, I'll just have to take out the rest of my bad mood on you," Etna said with sweet sadism.

* * *

Hustling down the hall, Zaeon heard faint screaming and crashing noises in the direction of Etna's wing of the palace. This was not unusual, especially recently, and Zaeon was too busy to investigate anyway. She had to hurry and gather a dimensional gate repair team for her master.

* * *

_Part 1 -Fin_


	2. Some Things Out Of Place

**_KappeZ: _**_Thanks for your reviews. You all seemed to like it, so I have decided to post more early. It will develop a plot eventually, I promise! _

**Prinny: **Hopefully with less prinny abuse, dood...

**_KappeZ: _**_Eheh...anyway, on with the story..._

* * *

Once a suitable repair team had been gathered, Zaeon directed them to King Laharl's chamber. "Lord Laharl?" Zaeon prompted upon entering the room. They found the overlord, head in hand, fast asleep on his throne. _He never did like waiting,_ Zaeon thought. The royal attendant boldly approached her sleeping master and gave him a gentle shake. "Lord Laharl...Lord Laharl, please awaken."

"...No...mrrg...Toast my bagel properly..." Laharl muttered in his sleep.

_The Prince had always been a heavy sleeper_, Zaeon recalled. She turned a pleading glance to her gathered repair team, but they had already dispersed, not wanting to deal with a sleeping overlord. It was times like these she wished Etna or Flonne was around. They would usually find a solution to situations like this, if not an unorthodox one. Zaeon let out a dreamy sigh and decided to seek the assistance of Flonne, who would at least have a gentler solution than Etna.

It did not take the royal attendant long to find the fallen angel. Flonne was walking from the direction of the courtyard, looking troubled. She was glancing all about, as if searching for something.

"Is there something wrong, miss Flonne?" Zaeon inquired once they had met in the hall near a large painting of a previous overlord.

"Oh, hi Zaeon. Yes actually...You see, I can't seem to find my watering can. I thought for sure I had left it in the courtyard by the hell tulips, but when I went to get it, it was gone."

"Oh, that's a shame..." Zaeon replied dreamily, though she thought her problem was a lot more pressing than a lost watering can. "Perhaps we can help each other? I require your assistance to awaken Lord Laharl."

"Is he napping again?" Flonne giggled. Then suddenly, Zaeon noticed a fire begin to ignite in the young angel's eyes. "I know just what to do! Once we wake up Laharl, he can help us find my watering can, then everyone will be happy! Leave it to Love Angel Flonne!"

Zaeon, knowing Laharl all too well, strongly doubted Flonne's plan was going to work. But before she could so much as blink, the fallen angel had grabbed her by the hand and darted off to the throne room, with the royal attendant flailing behind like a flag in a strong breeze.

After several minutes, Flonne had a whole stereo system, complete with surround sound, assembled about the overlord's throne. This marvel of human technology had been recovered from Captain Gordon's wrecked spaceship in the Stellar Graveyard. Some tinkering from the palace's engineer, Jeryk, and it had been working good as new. Flonne had politely asked to borrow the unit from Jeryk, and with help from some rather beat-up looking prinnies, had it moved to the throne room, where Flonne's plan to awaken Laharl was about to unfold.

"Umm...Miss Flonne, is this a wise idea?" Zaeon was glancing nervously at the big black speakers surrounding her snoozing master.

"Don't worry, it will work out fine," Flonne reassured cheerfully. Clutching the microphone, she crouched down to the sound system. "Ummm...how do you turn this on?..." the clueless angel began fiddling with buttons and dials. The speakers suddenly burst to life, issuing horrible feedback noises that caused everyone to cringe, except for Laharl, who was still sound asleep. Once the awful noises had stopped, Flonne removed her fingers from her ears. "Oh, that was scary! Well, I guess that means it's on."

Zaeon felt growing apprehension toward the fallen angel's plan. But before she could think of a way to talk her out of it, Flonne had cleared her throat, and began singing into the microphone. It was a song about love and kindness, two of Laharl's lest favourite words. On top of that, it was sung in a voice that would probably win the 'Netherworld's Most Awful Karaoke' award. If Flonne had any singing talent as an angel trainee, it had since vanished. Zaeon and the prinnies, who had already suffered much that day, were now cringing even more, rather missing the feedback noises.

Laharl's eyebrow began to twitch. Soon, he was beginning to stir. Then, just as the song reached it's second chorus, he burst awake, screaming in agony. Flonne stopped singing abruptly, not expecting this reaction at all. "Oh Laharl, are you all right?" she walked towards the tormented young overlord.

Laharl was now on the floor, head clutched in his hands. He opened one eye to see a certain fallen angel treading towards him. It did not take him long to assess what had happened. "**Flonne! What the hell do you think you're doing?**" Laharl jumped to his feet, his face contorted into an incredulous rage, his two long strands of hair standing on end.

"I-I thought you could use some wake-up music," Flonne explained, startled at his sudden outburst. "I thought a nice song would help you wake up..."

"You call that a '**nice song**'?" Laharl roared. "That's the worst song I've ever heard!"

Flonne's eyes sadly sunk to the floor, clearly hurt. Zaeon couldn't help but pity her, even though she should have known this was going to happen. But nevertheless, the plan had succeeded. Lord Laharl was now awake.

"So why the hell did you go and wake me up? I was having a nice nap until you came along," grumbled Laharl, his mood simmering down from furious to annoyed.

"Well, my watering can went missing, and..." Flonne began.

"**What?**" Laharl raged, his temper heating back up to full boil. "**All this over a stupid watering can?**" The prinnies began to slink out of the room, having had their share of violent confrontations for one day.

"W-wait there's more," pleaded Flonne. "Miss Zaeon wanted to see you." Zaeon stepped forward and bowed apologetically.

"Uhh..oh, now I remember..." What had transpired in the past few hours had suddenly came back to the young overlord. His anger receded somewhat as he faced the royal attendant. "Alright Zaeon, where's that repair team for the dimensional gate?"

Zaeon suddenly flushed as a chill of panic washed through her. "U-umm...They dispersed while you were asleep Lord Laharl. Forgive me..." Zaeon bowed her head, ashamed to have disappointed her master.

"Well, don't mope around here, hurry up and bring them back," Laharl demanded evenly.

"Yes, Lord Laharl." Zaeon quickly bowed again, then turned and hastily left the throne room. She was surprised Laharl had not yelled her out, but he had changed a lot over the past year, ever since Flonne had arrived. He actually had a shred of patience now, and showed his vassals a hint of respect. But it was usually poor Flonne who took the brunt of his temper, as was the case this time. Perhaps it was because their personalities were so different that Laharl had such a short temper with her. Flonne was a preacher of love and tolerance, and Laharl hated these concepts to the core. But somehow, somewhere within the deepest most hidden confines of the overlord's steel heart, he cared about her. He would never admit it, but he had befriended the fallen angel. Perhaps to conceal his feelings did he lash out at her so often. Zaeon smiled serenely as she hustled down the hall. Her former mistress would be happy to see her son now, able to accept tolerance and friendship.

With help from Ricon, Zaeon managed to reassemble the repair team. A couple of them were found playing pool in the castle lounge. For being ghosts, and not having hands, they were uncannily good, though either one of them could have been cheating. One demon was stuffing his face in the dining hall, with an endless streamline of prinny cooks fuelling his bottomless appetite. The golem downed each meal in two gulps, not even using any utensils to do so. Ricon and Zaeon had to dodge out of the way when he let out a huge belch, sending fish bones, apple cores, and various pieces of food flying like projectile weapons from his gaping mouth. One prinny behind them was not so fortunate, having to march toward the dark hospital with a fishbone stuck in his head. Once the team had been reunited, Zaeon led them back to the throne room, only to hear loud, indignant yelling issuing from the chamber. Zaeon recognized the yell, and entered the throne room. "Lord Laharl? What's wrong?"

Laharl was storming about the chamber, fists clenched in rage, unheeding to the royal attendant or Flonne, who was trying to calm down the furious overlord. Zaeon noticed something was out of place, and her suspicions were confirmed by another angry outburst from Laharl. "**Where the hell is my throne? I was sitting on it a couple minutes ago!**" The large ancient stone seat, which had been occupied by many previous overlords much larger than Laharl, was now absent from the head of the chamber.

"That's strange, now that I think about it, how could something so big and heavy go missing?" puzzled Flonne.

"There have been reports of things going missing throughout the palace," Ricon stated. "Everything from reusable toothpicks to expensive chandeliers have been disappearing."

"You don't suppose someone is stealing all these things, do you?" Flonne suggested. "That must mean they took my watering can too."

"Grrrrr, whoever they are, I'm gonna track them down and wring their scrawny neck!" Laharl held out a clenched fist. "And on a side note, who would want to re-use a toothpick? That's just gross!"

_This coming from the demon who brags he's never brushed his teeth,_ Flonne thought to herself.

The four decided to split up into two groups in order to search for the thief. Zaeon and Ricon would search the lower half of the palace, covering any escape routes should the burglar decide to flee. Laharl and Flonne would search the upper floors, commanding any vassals along the way to search as well. It was not long before Laharl ran into Zommie, one of his father's old vassals who still served in the palace.

"Ah, Prince, are you looking for your throne by chance?" Zommie asked casually, picking some rotten food from his even more rotten teeth.

"I told you to call me 'Your Highness', and yes, I am," Laharl grumbled. "How did you know? Don't tell me you saw someone waltz away with my throne and just sat around doing nothing?"

"Bingo," Zommie said, as if announcing a prize-winning answer.

Laharl muttered something under his breath, while Flonne spoke up. "Which way did they go, Mr. Zommie?"

"Down that way," Zommie pointed down a hallway with one of his decayed bandaged arms.

"But...doesn't that lead to the abandoned wing of the castle?" Flonne nervously glanced down the hall that got dimmer as it went on. It was a wing of the castle no one had used for millennia. There were many colourful rumours about it being haunted by a previous overlord who was assassinated there. Flonne recalled some of the ghost stories Etna had told her about it and let out a shudder.

Laharl just scoffed. "Hmph, if that thief thinks no one will dare search there, they are sadly mistaken."

"Oh, and while you're at it, could you see if the thief also has my reusable toothpick?" The zombie began attempting to pry a piece of what looked like lizard tail out of his molars.

"Uh-okay..." replied Flonne, who had to look away from the disgusting spectacle.

Laharl and Flonne hustled down the hallway towards the abandoned wing of the palace. Signs of neglect could be seen everywhere. Cobwebs hung from unused torches and demonic statues, and layers of dust coated everything. When the hallway got too dark, Laharl snatched an old candle from a nearby holder and lit it effortlessly by holding the wick close to the palm of his hand and summoned a small portion of his demonic fire to light it. The crimson draped hallway was eerily quiet. Not a soul could be seen in the dim light; Laharl's candle now the only source. The shadows of the young overlord and fallen angel swayed with the candle's dancing flame.

"M-maybe we should ask Etna or Ricon for help?" Flonne suggested, wanting nothing more than a reason to turn back from this creepy place.

"No way," dismissed Laharl. "We already have that bandit cornered, and there's no way a mere thief is any match for me."

Suddenly, they heard a faint voice echo down the hall. _...Sha-**zam**..._

"W-what was that?" Flonne squeaked, edging nervously behind Laharl.

"Give me a break..." Laharl sighed. "It sure doesn't take much to scare you."

_...Who da man..._ came another sinister echo. Flonne squeaked again and cowered behind Laharl, unconsciously grabbing at his scarf.

"Will you cut that out?" Laharl irritatedly wrenched his scarf from Flonne's grip.

"I-it's coming from over there." Flonne pointed a shaky hand up ahead towards a passageway to the left. Laharl began walking towards it, but Flonne remained stock still in a frightened position.

"Well, you coming?" Laharl turned back to Flonne, who gave him a timid stare in return. The overlord rolled his eyes. "Fine, you stay here. I'll go on ahead." Laharl handed Flonne his candle, lit a new one, then turned down the corridor and walked toward the source of the eerie voice. He soon reached the end of the hall where a rough old wooden door stood. A slit of light shone through the crack at the bottom of the door. At first Laharl was about to open the door cautiously to peer at what was inside, but wait, he's the Overlord! Whoever was on the other side should fear him! Throwing caution to the wind, Laharl kicked down the door and barged into the room. What was on the other side was the most cluttered room filled with the most random stuff the young overlord had ever seen. Playing cards, broken pool cues, a 1000 ton barbell, blue-tinted sunglasses, an ugly doll that looked like it was supposed to resemble some kind of rodent, a platinum wristwatch, undergarments both male and female, and a wide variety of other objects were strewn throughout the otherwise plain-looking room. In the center of it all, seated upon the overlord's throne, admiring a large ball of elastic bands, was a short sly demon wearing a bandanna and baggy clothing that was at least one size too big for him.

"Shazam?" the thief was startled at Laharl's loud, destructive entrance.

"So, you're the one who took my throne. You're gonna regret that..." Laharl stomped toward the culprit, ready to pummel him into the next netherworld. The thief ducked behind the throne as Laharl lunged towards him. Laharl then leapt up and vaulted over the throne, only to find the thief was no longer on the other side. He was making a break for the room's only exit, being careful not to tread upon any of his vast stolen treasures.

Just then, a high feminine voice was heard at the doorway, "I won't be scared any longer. I am Guardian Flonne, Messenger of Love, here to help catch that thief!" A familiar fallen angel appeared at the entranceway, staff held aloft in what she considered a very cool and heroic pose.

The thief halted in his tracks, his escape route cut off. Flonne came charging at him full speed, only to slip on a rubber squeak toy that resembled a prinny. The thief nimbly dodged out of the way as Flonne fell forward and collided with Laharl, who had also been in pursuit. This caused Laharl to fall backwards, knocking over a tall lamp, which in turn landed on a plank leaning against a can of spray paint. The plank was flipped over causing the sharp butcher knife on the other end to catapult into the air. Everyone watched in disbelief as the knife spun through the air, as if in slow motion, towards the chandelier hanging in the center of the room. The knife hit the rope holding up the chandelier handle-first, and just bounced off harmlessly. However, this presented enough force to dislodge the single thumbtack that had been carelessly used to pin the rope to the ceiling. The chandelier came plummeting down right on top of the thief, who could only stare up in stupefied horror. After a loud crashing noise, Flonne and Laharl could see the thief lying unconscious underneath the chandelier, shock frozen upon his face.

A small, light purple object skidded on the floor towards Flonne. "Oh, my watering can! I finally found it!" she scooped it up and held it triumphantly.

"Flonne, now isn't the time for that," Laharl motioned towards the subdued rogue. "We still have to figure out what we're gonna do with him."

They tied him up using the rope from the chandelier, and as they were doing so, Flonne realized something. "Hey, wait a minute...Isn't this Lyle, one of Etna's vassals?"

"I thought he looked familiar," Laharl shrugged. He never really went out of his way to remember every single vassal that worked in the palace.

"We should go get Etna, so she can deal with him." Flonne indicated, still clutching her watering can to make sure it would not disappear again.

"But I already had a punishment in mind..." Laharl grinned with a sinister ring in his voice.

"Laharl..." Flonne gave him one of those scolding looks, reminding him so much of his mother.

"Ok, ok, fine," Laharl grumbled. He set out to go find Etna, while the fallen angel stayed behind to keep an eye on Lyle. Once Laharl had returned with a curious Etna in tow, the thief had regained consciousness, and was struggling in vain to release himself from Flonne's expert rope work.

"Y'know Flonne, for an angel, you sure know how to tie someone up. Maybe beneath that innocent exterior, you have a kinky side..." Etna teased.

"N-n-no way!" Flonne objected, flailing her arms in denial. This just caused Etna to giggle in satisfaction.

"**Excuse me**, but can we focus on the task at hand," urged Laharl with the usual sarcasm in his politeness.

"Fine, fine...so what did he do?" Etna glanced disconcerned at her mischievous vassal, who was now stock still.

"Look around you!" Laharl was now growing impatient. "He stole all this stuff. What are you gonna do about it?"

"Oh really?..." Etna scanned the room, taking in all the various objects strewn about. She then walked up to her bound rogue, who squirmed away, fearing what his mistress might do. But, to everyone's surprise, she merely said: "Good job, this is quite a haul. You even managed to swipe the Prince's throne! Nice one."

"**What?**" roared Laharl, "you're not even going to punish him?"

"Well, I haven't sent him out to steal anything in quite a while, so it's only understandable that he got bored and decided to go on a klepto spree," Etna dismissed casually. "Besides, he knew better than to steal any of **my** stuff, didn't you?" She turned to Lyle, who just grinned nervously in return.

"Agh, fine! If you're not going to punish him, then I will!" declared Laharl.

"Please Laharl, don't go too hard on him," pleaded the compassionate angel.

In the end, after much debate, Lyle's punishment was to return every single object he stole to their rightful owners, and to clean the abandoned wing of the palace down to the last dust bunny and cobweb. Once the overlord's throne was positioned in its proper place, Laharl seated himself contently upon it, glad that order was finally restored in his castle. "Now this is where the king of the netherworld belongs, upon his royal seat, gazing down at his loyal vassals," Laharl stretched casually, enjoying his position as usual. "So what was I doing before that ridiculous incident? Oh yeah, the repair team, where are they?"

Zaeon bowed apologetically, "I'm afraid they have dispersed yet again, Lord Laharl."

"**What?** Dammit, not again!"

* * *

_Part 2 -Fin_


	3. Blackness Peak

Seated upon a cushion in her chamber was a female demon with long ebony hair tied into a fanned out ponytail. She wore an open white vest with long sleeves and red trim. Underneath, her chest was wrapped in white sarashi. Red baggy samurai pants tied with a white cloth belt was the rest of her attire. She sipped contently on a cup of herbal tea, letting her mind stray from her surroundings, away from her battle-ridden lifestyle. When you have been fighting battles for as long as she had, you need to escape every now and then. Her serenity was interrupted by a knock at her door. The samurai opened her eyes, fazing back into reality. "...Enter."

The door opened, and in walked a prinny, his peg legs thumping upon the wooden floor. "Xavia, his majesty Laharl has summoned you, dood. He's at the dimensional gate."

"Very well," Xavia placed her drink on the floor to the side and rose from her cushion. She slipped her bare feet into a pair of straw sandals, then headed to the back of her white draped room and opened a large cabinet. Inside, standing on built-in racks, were various swords. She took the one in the middle, a large, partly serrated blade, and stared at it. There are only ever two reasons why her master summons her, and that is for battle, or an escort through dangerous areas that ultimately lead to battle. Xavia had chosen this lifestyle ever since she took up the sword. She had no regrets, but wondered what other life she could have lived...

"Dood, you coming?" the prinny urged.

Xavia snapped out of her idle thoughts, sheathed the sword in her cloth sash at her waist, and proceeded with the prinny out of her room and down the hall.

* * *

Once the dimensional gate repair team had been gathered for a third, and hopefully final time, King Laharl sent some prinnies to summon his strongest vassals to meet them at the castle's dimensional gate. One by one the vassals arrived, Ricon being the first. Shortly after, Xavia the sword master arrived. "You summoned, Lord Laharl?" she spoke in a calm dedicated tone.

"As soon as the rest of my vassals arrive, we are heading to Blackness Peak," Laharl began explaining. "You are to guard this dimensional gate repair team-" Laharl pointed with his thumb at a crowd of restless demons behind him, "-as we make our way to an ancient broken down gate."

"Understood, My Lord." Xavia assumed her place beside her master, opposite of Ricon. She and Ricon had served Laharl since before he became overlord. Their strength and loyalty had grown since then, and they had become two of Laharl's closest vassals, second only to Etna or Flonne.

After over ten minutes of waiting, still no one else had shown up. The restless repair team began mumbling impatiently, but they still had more patience than Laharl, whose annoyance was quite audible. "It figures she'd be late. What's taking her so long?" The next five minutes passed sluggishly, until finally a familiar red-haired demon appeared from down the left hall. "About time you got here," grumbled Laharl to his tardy head vassal.

Etna merely shrugged indifferently. "Hey, I had to get ready. It's not like the whole mountain is going to disappear while I polish my nails." Following behind her was Nikka and Jeryk, two of her strongest vassals. Nikka wore her usual frilly attire, plus she was holding a staff with black bat wings at the tip. Jeryk wore a tan muscle shirt and brown baggy pants ending in a pair of black boots. His wild hazel hair was complimented by a pair of blue goggles on his forehead. He was also equipped with a large backpack, brown knuckle gloves, and a holstered gun on his belt. Around his neck was a self-made necklace of teeth from various wild demons. If he had defeated the demons himself, or had worked in dentistry once, no one was sure. The three of them strided up to where the others were waiting. "So Prince, what do you need us for?" Etna inquired.

"We are heading to Blackness Peak, where...agh, I'm sick of explaining this all the time. Fill them in, Zaeon."

Zaeon, who was also going with them, briefed Etna and her vassals on the mission. Then, seeing that everyone he called for had gathered, Overlord Laharl then turned to Fiona, the castle's dimensional gatekeeper. "Alright, we're ready."

"You're going to Blackness Peak? One moment please..." Fiona outstretched her hands toward the swirling portal of the dimensional gate. It began to swirl even more as she concentrated on their destination. Shortly after, the image of a rough, rocky landscape at the base of a jagged mountain appeared in the portal. "This is as close as I could get you there before the land gets too unstable," Fiona stated. "Be careful, Prince. It is a treacherous place."

"Hmph, no need to worry. Who do you think I am?" Laharl replied cockily.

_That's reason enough to worry,_ Etna thought with a grin.

As they were about to enter the dimensional gate, a high-pitched voice was heard behind them. "Laharl, you're so mean! How could you leave without inviting me!" Flonne came trotting up to them hastily, a silver staff in hand.

"We don't need you Flonne," Laharl said bluntly.

"W-what?" Flonne, freezing in her tracks, looked rather distraught at this statement. "But if you're attacked, you'll need someone who can heal," Flonne insisted.

"Zaeon is coming with us, she can do the healing," declared Laharl.

The royal attendant bowed apologetically to Flonne. Normally, Zaeon did not go on outings, usually staying behind to conduct duties in the castle. But this time Laharl had ordered that she accompany them. Having skill as a dimensional gatekeeper as well, she would be able to operate the mysterious ancient gate once it was repaired.

"Aww, c'mon Prince, let her do what she wants," said Etna.

Laharl gave an annoyed glance at his head vassal, then looked at the disappointed Flonne. He let out an irritated sigh. "...Fine, whatever. Just don't get in the way."

"Thank you, Laharl!" Flonne practically jumped with joy, like a child getting to leave school early. She quickly joined everyone else by the dimensional gate.

Just as Laharl was about to pass through the portal, another voice came. "Wait, Prince!" Manty, one of the older vassals, rushed toward them.

"**Now** what is it?" an irritated and impatient Laharl turned once again to see what the manticore wanted.

"If you're going to Blackness Peak, you'll need this..." with a flick of his tail, Manty tossed a black object to the overlord, who caught it one-handed.

"What's...this?" a puzzled Laharl examined the square object that seemed rather familiar.

"A camera," Manty replied cheerfully. "There's supposed to be a nice view of Salamander's Breath up on those mountains. Be sure to get some good shots!"

"Forget it! This isn't a stupid tourist trip!" Laharl was quite ready to throw the camera at the manticore's head.

"Oh! Oh! I'll do it!" Flonne volunteered enthusiastically, snatching the camera from the overlord's palm.

"Can we go already?" Laharl glanced around, daring anything else to try delaying them again.

One by one, they passed through the dimensional gate. Laharl and his strongest vassals went first, then lastly came the repair team. They emerged on rough, rocky terrain. Large boulders and jagged spikes filled the entire area. Before them, an ominous mountain streaked high into an orange netherworld sky tainted from the light of a crimson sun. The mountain surface was of ancient jagged dark stone that stuck out everywhere like thorny blemishes. Large columns and shelves of stone jutted out in every direction imaginable. The mountain peak struck toward the sky like a reverse lightning bolt.

"So this is the place, huh?" Laharl stared down the dark form of Blackness Peak.

"It's kinda scary..." Flonne observed.

Xavia shifted, her eyes narrowing as she glanced ahead toward the ominous mountain.

"You sense it too," Ricon said. "A powerful demon once left their mark here. It was probably the gate which is now broken."

"Lead the way, Ricon," Laharl ordered eagerly. "I want to see this broken gate for myself."

The shinobi took the lead, followed next by the young overlord. Behind them, walking in a large cluster, were the demons who could repair the gate, including Zaeon. Xavia marched to their left, with Etna on the right, and Flonne, Nikka and Jeryk taking the rear. They marched across the rocky terrain, making their way to the mountain, where the trek became more difficult. It was far from a pleasant mountain stroll, as they hopped from ledge to jagged ledge, careful to keep their footing. One slip could lead to a brutal fall, and may lead to possible death for the weaker. Some of the luckier demons who had wings could at least hover short distances. Others had to be helped over by Laharl's vassals (this usually involved a lot of tossing, to the assisted's displeasure.) When complaints of sore limbs and bruises reached an unignorable level, Laharl finally ordered a halt for rest and recuperation upon a large rock shelf.

Etna sat cross-legged, casually waiting for others to recover. "It's a good thing I didn't decide to take the Prinny Squad with us." She imagined with a grin just what a farce it would have been to try and scale the mountain with a flock of exploding penguins.

"Ouchie, my feet are sore!" complained Nikka, sitting near her mistress, massaging her feet. "Why won't someone carry me? It's not fair!"

"Heheh. Maybe they know how heavy you are," Jeryk teased, speaking in his unusual accent.

"**What? Why you!**" Nikka leapt to her feet and began beating Jeryk senseless with her staff.

_So much for being exhausted, _Etna thought, watching her vassals with amusement.

Flonne, who was slightly tired, sat upon a protruding stone, gazing at the canyons beyond. A grey curtain of clouds had recently pulled over the netherworld sky, amplifying the drearyness of the landscape around Blackness Peak. Looking across the barren, lifeless landscape brought a sudden panging in her heart. How she missed the bright flower-filled fields of Celestia; the sunny lakesides and sparkling clear water that lay in her former home. She longed to return there, but would she be allowed? She was a fallen angel now, and that meant she was bound to her task in the netherworld. She must be the ambassador of love, teaching demons that they are in fact capable of kindness. She enjoyed her job, but even fallen angels should get a vacation now and then, shouldn't they? _Would Laharl let me?_ As she was pondering, she noticed someone was sitting nearby to her left. Judging from her long ebony hair, it was the sword master, Xavia. She was sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed, probably in some kind of meditation. _Come to think of it, she always looks so lonely… I never see her talk to anybody. Maybe I should go talk to her._ Flonne stood up, and was about to approach Xavia, when loud shrieks and roars split through the air. The sword master suddenly leapt to her feet, drawing her partly serrated sword and whirled around in the direction of the noise.

A large band of wild demons were flying towards them from overhead, circling and blasting flames, lightning, or any kind of projectile attack they had. There were mostly dragons and winged demons (who looked like flying spinal cords with heads attached.)

"I was wondering when we would get company," Laharl drew his large, black bladed sword. "All vassals, attack! And while you're at it, protect the repair team!" The overlord opened the battle by leaping into the air and slashing down a winged demon. Ricon soon joined in and delivered an uppercut to a blue dragon. Flonne and Zaeon concentrated on forming a barrier to shield the repair team from harm. Jeryk whipped out his gun and assaulted their attackers with a barrage of bullets. Nikka held up her staff, concentrating magical power, then unleashing a huge whirlwind that knocked several of their foes into the mountainside. A couple dragons had swooped down and attempted to break through Flonne and Zaeon's barrier. But then Xavia swung forth her sword, unleashing a buzzsaw of energy-charged air that collided with them.

"Feel the wrath of the Overlord!" Laharl unleashed several huge balls of hellfire, and with a wave of his arms, they hurtled toward a large cluster of their attackers, exploding on impact. The few remaining demons fled, realizing they had picked a fight with demons much stronger than themselves. "**Ha! **Serves you right! They still don't know who their overlord is?"

"I guess not," a casually seated Etna remarked, munching on a candy bar.

"**Why are you still sitting there?** **You were supposed to be fighting too!**" raged Laharl.

"You guys seemed to have it under control," Etna dismissed mildly.

"Is everyone ok?" a concerned Flonne asked the repair team.

"My back hurts!"

"There's dust in my eye!"

"The guy beside me smells!"

"Well, no duh! I'm a Zombie."

"That's, uh, not what I had in mind," said Flonne.

After resting for a while longer, and Flonne and Zaeon had attended to the wounded (or at least the mildly bruised,) the overlord's band continued to scale the trecherous cliffs of Blackness Peak. They soon found their presence on the mountain was not going unnoticed, as more and more bands of wild demons assailed them at every turn.

"What is **up** with all these demons?" Etna grumbled, shoving her spear into the ground after battling off the largest horde yet. "At this rate, my manicure is toast."

"This mountain is home to many wild demons," Ricon began explaining. "They are used to battling others for food or territory. They probably consider us a rival band."

"That's just **great**…" Etna's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"If we get to be a rival band, don't we at least get guitars?" a Jack-o-Lantern demon of the repair team asked quite seriously.

"Dummy!" a Nekomata said. "If we're gonna be a band, we need drums too!"

"You're both idiots," Etna declared, examining her nails with disdain.

As the Jack and the Neko argued over the name of their band, Laharl ordered they continued on at a faster pace, otherwise they would be fighting off every demon on the mountain. This increased pace proved quite daunting for most of the repair team, and even some of the vassals. After much whining, Nikka's demands were met, and Ricon was assigned to carry her. "Thank you, Riiicon!" Nikka's voice oozed with sweetness.

The shinobi just ignored her and stared passively ahead, preparing to leap another rocky chasm.

Flonne was later beginning to lag behind, and Laharl ordered she had to be carried by Xavia. This at least gave Flonne the chance to talk to the sword master. "Umm…miss Xavia?"

"Yes?" she replied plainly.

"What do you think about your job as a vassal?"

"What do I think?" Xavia was perplexed at this question. "Well, it's my duty," she stated finally.

"Umm…I mean, do you enjoy it?"

"Enjoy it?" How could she possibly answer this one? "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"It's alright to let out your feelings! Search your heart, and the answer will be there."

_My heart?_…Xavia remained silent. The light patting sound of her straw sandals echoing off the stone shelves was all that was heard for several seconds. Then, she said finally: "…if it means fulfilling my duty, then yes, I do enjoy it."

"I see. Your duty must be really important to you." Still not satisfied with her answers, Flonne tried a different approach. "But isn't there other things you'd like to do? Are you truly happy with your life?"

Xavia continued on in silence. _Why is she asking me this? What does she know?_ "Why are you asking all these questions?"

"Well," began Flonne, "you just seem so…lonely." But before she could get any more responses from the sword master, more wild demons had leapt from the cracks below, and yet another battle upon the mountainside had erupted.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the land of Celestia…_

Archangel Aurora marched purposely up the pearl-white stairs that lead to the Seraphic Sanctuary, her long braided golden hair trailing gracefully behind her. Since the fall of Vulcanus, she had been appointed as the new leader of the Celestial Host. She wore long white robes with golden hem, and her large white wings were folded behind her. Her face was relatively young, but stern. She reached the large doorway that lead to the Seraph's chamber and knocked firmly.

"Come in," the Seraph's voice issued faintly.

Aurora pushed open the doors and entered. "Master Lamington, I have a report."

Seraph Lamington was resting with his arms against the sill of a large window, gazing out upon the beautiful flower gardens below. He stood upright and turned to face the Archangel. "You may proceed."

"Firstly, the unrest throughout Celestia has increased. It seems many are still questioning whether demons are capable of goodness, and are hesitant in the movement to attempt making ties with the Netherworld."

"I see…" There was disappointment in the Seraph's mild voice, but he was not surprised at this news. It used to be common knowledge that all demons were evil, a fact that had recently been turned fiction by the discoveries of former angel trainee Flonne. But some angels had a hard time accepting this sudden revelation against all that they had known. There were even those who were as adamant as Vulcanus had been, and even went as far as to question their Seraph's sanity. "It will take time for them to accept the truth," Lamington stated.

"Secondly," Aurora continued, "there has been some inter-dimensional disturbances. Some angels, including myself, have noticed it. It feels like someone, or something, is trying to pass into Celestia, or pass through it."

"Is that so?…" the Seraph said, this time with relative surprise. He had felt nothing up in the Seraphic Sanctuary. "Where did you notice this, Aurora?"

"It can be felt by the Pool of Watching. Some of us have tried, but we could not locate the source of the disturbance."

"I see. Continue investigating this matter. Report to me anything significant you discover."

"Very well, Master Lamington," Aurora bowed and departed the sanctuary.

The Seraph turned to stare out the window once more. If something was forcing it's way through the dimensions, like the humans had done when they intended to take over the Netherworld, it was likely not a good thing. Staring at the sun-bathed flowers below, Lamington could only hope this would not lead to another war involving his world or any others. Unfortunately, such hopes were in vain…

* * *

_Part 3 -Fin_


	4. Working 'Hard'

_ **KappeZ: **This part took me longer to write than predicted, but here it is. Please let me know what you think of the story thus far. I will write more when I can, though my other stories might take up more of my time right now._

**Prinny:** I think you're just being lazy, dood.

_**KappeZ: **Quiet you! Ehem...on with the story..._

* * *

"Fur-racious!"

"Jack and the Devils!"

"Will you two shut up back there?" Laharl demanded, getting annoyed at their constant bantering over the name of their non-existent band.

"Can I be in the band too?" asked Flonne hopefully, "I'll be the lead singer!"

"No!" many of the demons replied, not wanting ever again to experience the fallen angel's singing voice.

"We're not forming a band already, so **can it!**" shouted Laharl back to the others.

Many in the repair team now looked disappointed as they hastened up the mountainside to keep up with the Overlord and his vassals. They had gotten quite high up now, and a few of them struggled not to look down at the lengthy space separating them between the mountain and solid ground below.

Ricon halted suddenly, and motioned for the others to stop. "It is just beyond this ridge."

They all looked ahead at the steepest stone platforms they had seen yet. "How are we gonna cross this?" a ghost whined, peering ahead with his beady eyes at the dangerously sloped protruding rocks.

"Guess it's tossing time again," Etna declared. Various grunts and squeaks of dread issued from the repair team.

"It's too dangerous!" Flonne said pleadingly, "There must be some other way…"

"If I may…" to everyone's surprise, Zaeon stepped forward, producing an arrow from a quiver she had strapped on before leaving the palace. She suddenly turned to Jeryk. "If you have a long rope, could you lend me some?"

"Heh, sure," Jeryk obliged by rummaging through his backpack and producing a large roll of golden rope. It wasn't thick, but it looked quite strong. Zaeon took the rope, thanking the scout, and began tying one end around the arrow. By the time she withdrew her longbow, it became clear to most what she was planning. "About how far is that large cliff from here?" Zaeon asked Jeryk, indicating a stable rock ledge farther from the crooked ones before them. It was on a higher level than the rest, at about a thirty degree angle from them.

With his keen eyes, the scout peered across the dark rocky cliffs ahead. "'Bout a hundred feet or so. That rope should do it."

Zaeon aligned the arrow in the bow, then drew the string back far, her eyes focused on her target. With a great whistle of wind, the arrow was released. It surged through the air, as if rocket-propelled, and impacted the cliff edge on the other side with such force, the arrow had bored through the stone. The end of the shaft where the rope had been tied was all that remained visible. Several rocks below had been loosed from the impact, and tumbled down the mountain into the hazy depths below. Some of the repair demons stared in disbelief at how powerful that arrow had been. The royal attendant was a lot stronger than she looked, that was for sure.

Laharl was silently impressed by how innovative some of his vassals could be. _That's why I keep them around, _he justified in his head. Yet somehow, he almost found himself about to compliment Zaeon. _Imagine that, the King of the Netherworld, praising his own servant._ "Good," was all he ended up saying.

Jeryk gave the rope a firm tug. It held taut, and would remain in place even if a golem swung on it (which would in fact be taking place.) After fastening their side of the rope securely (on another arrow, which Zaeon fired into the ground,) the vassals began guiding the repair team across the golden thread. Ricon, agile enough to keep his footing, leapt onto one of the steep rocks below, in place to rescue anyone who might lose their grip. Some had an easy time scaling the rope, such as the ghosts, who just hovered more than anything while holding on. The Nekomata nimbly scurried her way up in no time flat. As everyone had predicted, the golem, Romlii, took the longest (nearly an hour!) to make it up. In the end, he had to be dragged up by Ricon, who could pretty much tightrope-walk his way up. The vassals took a lot less time to make the climb, though some, (like Nikka,) had to be carried. Then, without use of the rope at all, Laharl cleared the chasm to the upper platform in one mighty leap. It was impressive feats like this that reminded everyone he was indeed his father's son.

As soon as they had walked around a jagged edge of mountainside, they all saw it; a giant stone archway built into the side of the mountain. "This is it," Ricon stated. Everyone gazed at the fifty foot high gateway, engraved with runes and strange ancient markings. It was clearly broken; large sections of stone lay on the ground, and the archway itself was cracked and looked as if it would fall to pieces any day now.

Zaeon stepped forward, examining the object they had sought to reach all day. "This gate is very old. It must have broken down several millenia ago."

"I can really feel it now," said Laharl, taking in the sight of the age-worn dimensional gate. "If this thing was already broken, why do I still feel the strong demonic force coming from it?"

"Old gateways like this one were powered from crystals that contained sealed power from the gate's creator," Zaeon explained in her dreamy voice. She surveyed the stones laying about, then overturned a nearby stone, revealing upon it a large, cracked, diamond-shaped crimson gem. "This must have recently fallen and cracked open, leaking out the demon's power."

"Do ya think it was made by a previous Overlord?" Etna asked, eyeing the stonepiece with curiosity.

"Most likely," Zaeon said dreamily.

Laharl walked up to the broken crystal and held out an open palm towards it. He could feel for himself this was where the demonic power was coming from. _A previous Overlord…_ The power pressed heavily on his hand, giving off a supernatural sensation that many ghostly hands were pushing back. _Just how strong were the previous Overlords? Am I as strong as they were? _As he thought about it, Laharl didn't even know how strong his father really had been. He had never seen his father fight at all. _Hmph, it doesn't matter, _Laharl withdrew his hand from the crimson gem, _I'm still the strongest in the Netherworld…_

"Uh, Prince, are we just gonna stare at it, or are you gonna order these guys to fix it?" Etna indicated the repair team, lounging about idly as if they had nothing better to do. Most of them had spread picnic blankets or produced lounge chairs from seemingly out of nowhere.

Laharl turned on them. "**What are you waiting for? Hurry up and fix this thing!"**

Grudgingly, the repair team sprang into action. They withdrew ropes, chisels, unfolding ladders, and various other tools from their backpacks and began to work. One comforting thought was that they would at least get better pay than the prinnies. Their job was by no means simple reconstruction work. They had to get the stone formation just right for the gate to produce a stable portal. On top of that, they were dealing with a large and ancient gate, so they needed to be extra careful handling the delicate stonework. The golem Romlii was apparently the foreman of operations in the repair team, shouting out orders and directions to the others, or just shouting simply for the purpose of shouting. "Work harder!" was one of his most common instructions. Soon, another voice joined his over the banging and cracking of stone work…

"Hardhats! This is a hardhat area! Please come get a hardhat! Its dangerous without one!" Flonne's high squeaky voice issued across the construction area. She had forced each demon in the repair team to don one of the round yellow hats, and was now passing them out to the vassals. "Please put one on Laharl. Safety first!" Flonne, who was also wearing a hardhat upon her golden blonde head, eagerly held one out to the young overlord.

"Idiot! An overlord doesn't need head protection," Laharl snapped, his arms crossed indignantly.

"That's because he's already thick-headed as it is," Etna whispered gleefully, adjusting her own hat.

"**I heard that!"**

After an hour of work, the sun began to melt behind the jagged horizon, and light was quickly diminishing. The Overlord's company began to build camp, and various odd-shaped tents were soon erected about the large mountain platform. Jeryk produced some firecrystal, and Nikka cast a mild fire spell to fuel it. They had a fair sized campfire going in the center of the camp, which many of them huddled about, trying to cook various things on spits, also supplied by Jeryk. "What **doesn't** he keep in that backpack?" Flonne asked Etna.

"Shampoo," Etna replied knowingly.

As the night became deeper still, they all disappeared into their tents. The vassals each took turns keeping a lookout over the camp, but no wild demons dared to attack. It was likely the leaking energy of the previous overlord was keeping them away from the area. They dared not go where such a potent demonic aura was issuing. When morning came, some rose gracefully, while others needed to be dragged out of their tents to re-join the work on the ancient gate. Some of the stonework was proving quite daunting due to the largeness of the gate. Some of the stronger vassals, such as Ricon and Xavia, needed to lend a hand in moving the boulder-sized stonepieces.

Waking later into the day, Overlord Laharl emerged from his large tent with such a forceful yawn, it nearly toppled the half-fixed gate.

"Geez, be careful, Prince! I don't want to start all this work over again," Etna was seated on one of those lounge chairs that had been produced from who knows where.

"What are you talking about? You're not even working!" Laharl retorted. He turned towards the stony face of the mountainside where the ancient gate was standing. _Looks like it's almost done… _The thought of what might lay beyond brought a chill of excitement to the young overlord. Though he had been disappointed to learn that the power he had sensed from the castle was not connected with whatever resided on the other side of the gate, the fact a previous overlord had constructed this gate proved there must be something worth discovering on the other side.

Flonne had took to handing out hardhats again, but to everyones dread, most of them now bore hearts or flowers or sayings in bright pink letters like: 'Love and Safety will save the day!' "I thought if I made the hardhats more cheerful, people would be more willing to wear them," explained Flonne to Ricon, handing him one. The ninja took one look at the sky blue flower painted upon it, and had the urge to sneeze.

The dimensional gate repair team and the Overlord's vassals worked constantly throughout the day, pausing only for meals or brief breaks. (Too brief, in the opinions of most.) To everyone's delight, Zaeon proved to possess great culinary skill, and had conjured up a most tasty supper for the hard-working (and the not-so-hard-working) demons. She had a large pot of stew going, (someone seemed to have had the insight to bring a large pot, probably Romlii,) and everyone had lined up eagerly to fill their bowls.

"This is delicious, miss Zaeon!" Flonne declared happily between mouthfuls of stew.

"Thank you," the royal attendant said serenely. "I often cooked for the previous king and queen. I am happy to have the chance once again."

Most of the rest of the demons showed their appreciation by noisily scarfing down their meals. But before anyone could have seconds, Romlii had appeared beside the pot, had seized it in his arms, and dumped the remaining stew into his huge gaping mouth. There were many cries of protest, as well as spoons and bowls thrown at the golem's head (which, thankfully for him, was still under the protection of one of Flonne's hardhats.) And to top it all, Zaeon apologised that she did not have any ingredients left to make another stew. Throughout all the ruckus, the one demon that was being uncharacteristically quiet was their spikey blue haired Overlord. Etna noticed Laharl seated at a distance from the others, staring at the ancient gate. It didn't take a psychic to know what was on his mind. _I wouldn't mind knowing for myself what's so important for a previous Overlord to build this huge gate for. _Etna shrugged,_ guess we'll find out soon enough…_

After another day of toil and mishap, the huge dimensional gate was fully reconstructed. Upon orders, Ricon had departed on completion, and two hours later returned with a large sapphire crystal the size of a head. "Here it is, Lord Laharl," he handed the crystal to his master.

"Alright, now what do I do with this?" Laharl asked his royal attendant, turning the crystal about in his hand.

"You must place it into that slot at the top of the gate, and concentrate your power into it, Lord Laharl." Zaeon pointed towards the keystone at the top of the arch-shaped gate that had a large diamond shaped hole in it's center.

"You think the Prince has enough power to reactivate the gate?" Etna wondered aloud more than asked.

"Of course I do! I'm the Overlord!" Laharl retorted. "Now watch this!" With a mighty leap, he shot upwards toward the keystone. He grabbed hold of the edge with one hand, and used the other to shove in the sapphire gem. Through his hand, he felt a surge of his own energy enter the crystal, causing it to glow a radiant blue. Satisfied, the young overlord sprang off the keystone, and landed on his feet upon the ground below. Before him, and the rest of the demons there, they witnessed the runes and carvings begin to glow in turn, spreading from the stone bearing the gem to the stones at the base. The ancient gate was restored at last.

* * *

_Part 4 -Fin_


	5. Beyond The Gate

_Meanwhile…_

The Dark Assembly had gathered for a private meeting that day. Some filed in early to get the best seats, only to be shoved aside by stronger (and therefore more important) senators. Others dragged themselves into the assembly late, dreary, and clutching a cup of Netherbucks coffee. Today's topic: their new Overlord, Laharl.

"I am sure you all are aware as to why I have moved for this meeting," Senator Corriedap haughtily spoke. There were several roars of approval, accompanied by some indifferent grunts. Senator Corriedap adjusted his pumpkin head, which had a tendency to slide off, and continued. "Since the rise to power of our new Overlord, nothing good has happened." Many senators barked their approval, though there was a portion who remained silent. Corriedap continued, "I always did question the way Overlord Krichevskoy handled matters, but now that his son is in power, things have gotten that much worse." More cheers of approval. Some silence. Corriedap continued, "'Overlord' Laharl has brought us nothing but misery and shame!" He banged his fist upon the podium, causing his head to shift dangerously to the left. Several senators muffled their laughter. Unabashed, Corriedap readjusted it and continued, "He forces through bills using his power to get whatever he wants! He departs the castle constantly and does things without our permission! It's his fault we are overruled so very often! And it's his fault **my head keeps falling off!**" Corriedap was shaking with such enthusiasm over his own point, he had to put his left hand on top of his head to prevent it from moving. The other senators roared their approval, though there was some chuckling hidden amongst it.

"Senator Corriedap, if I may?" an extremely busty female demon stood up.

"Oh, very well, very well," Corriedap shuffled irritably away from the podium, allowing the succubus to take center stage.

"I wholeheartedly agree with Senator Corriedap on this matter," she haughtily flicked her long silver hair and continued. "Overlord Laharl is a spoiled brat who must always have his way. He constantly passes bills that benefit nobody but himself, and he completely neglects our noble authority! Why, why…" she stammered, indignantly recalling something. "…He even had the **gall** to change my name just because I voted against him! My name is **Bellatrix**, dammit, not 'Bellatri'!" There were a few sympathetic murmurs within the assembly, though the majority were clearly snickering.

A trent stood up (though it was impossible to tell considering they look like tree stumps.) "If I may speak next, Senator Bellatri?"

She shot him a lethal look, but then took leave of the podium. The trent, known as Senator Baldr, scurried his way down to take her place. "It is obvious some of you oppose our new Overlord, but we cannot overlook some of the good he has done! It was Laharl that fought off the human invasion, and I hear he also travelled to Celestia and defeated their Seraph! If it were not for these deeds, the netherworld would be in ruins right now!"

Mutterings amoungst the senators swept through the room. Some did not sound convinced. A gargoyle suddenly stood tall and bellowed, "any powerful demon could do that! He did nothing more than save his own pride!"

"I currently have the podium, Senator Tartarus. If you want to speak, wait your turn," Senator Baldr snapped.

Tartarus growled, but slowly sat back down. 'Regulations' could not be denied in the senate, even if he was a demon. Of course, if he could convince enough of the others…

"Oh! Senator Baldr! Can I speak?" a golem waved excitedly.

"But, I'm not finished," Senator Baldr stated.

"Don't worry, I got ya covered," the golem winked.

"Eh? Fine, whatever." Baldr scurried off the podium to let the golem take his place.

"Ahem!" the golem cleared his throat loudly and importantly. "As you all know, I, Senator Skald, also approve of our new Overlord. He has done great things, and will do great things in the future!"

"Yeah, right!" spat Senator Bellatri from the stands, throwing regulation to the wind. "He's bribed you up to the teeth in goodies!" Many senators let out similar protesting growls.

"**Shut up! I'm speaking!" **bellowed Skald. His great voice whisked away the grumblings from the stands, leaving a dead silence…that lingered. "…and…um…yeah." Senator Skald finished quite lamely. Out of things to say, he bashfully departed back to his seat.

Another senator quickly took his place at the podium, a mean-looking cloaked phantom. "If we are done listening to nonsense, we must face facts," his raspy voice issued from behind his gray hood. "Krichevskoy's son has proved to be every bit as eccentric as his father. Nearly a year ago, he allowed an **angel** to become his vassal. **An Angel!** Any demon in their right mind would not have one of those celestians at their side! What is more, he allowed a pack of **humans** into vassalhood as well. And speaking of humans, let us not forget our Overlord's origin! Born from a human, collaberating with humans and celestians, you needn't further proof why I question our Overlord's sanity. And his father was no better. Krichevskoy's bizzare infatuation with that human woman lead to his pitiful downfall."

"That's quite enough, Senator Gairu!" a zombie spoke up. "Overlord Krichevskoy, eccentric as he was, was a fine ruler who brought us glory! It is because of him we have the priveleges we do today!"

"You're out of line, Senator Hilde." Gairu's yellow eyes narrowed behind his hood. The zombie said nothing more, but glared back at him. "My point is this," Senator Gairu continued, "why should we entrust the title of Overlord to a demon as inexperienced and eccentric as Laharl? I for one, say we take matters into our own hands." His closing statement was followed by cheers and applause from many.

An imp boldly took the podium next. "I agree Overlord Laharl must be put in his place, but how? We can't ignore the fact he is more powerful than all of us combined! Any bright ideas, people?" Much muttering ran through the assembly. Then one demon stood, and all eyes were on him. "In that case, we'll just have to find someone stronger than him, won't we?" Senator Tartarus sneered.

* * *

A large portal was now swirling within the stone archway. The repair team had gathered around to watch the fruits of their labor in action. Zaeon, hands outstreached toward the portal, was deep in concentration. Apparently it was taking some time to form the opening at the other end. The crystal Laharl had poured his demonic power into was glowing radiantly blue. All eyes were watching the swirling void, awaiting the form of whatever might be on the other end. When the portal finally stabalized, a field covered in a strange haze could be seen. The image was rather distorted, and flickered with odd hazey colour.

"Where in the Netherworld is that place?" Laharl wondered aloud, staring at the image with a feeling of ominous mystery.

"If I may guess," said Zaeon, no longer in the throes of intense concentration, "it must be an Alternate Netherworld."

"An Alternate…Netherworld," repeated Laharl, and at once his mischievous excitement grew. "Hmmhmhm…**Haaaaaaahahahahaaa! **This is perfect! I figured this huge gate had to lead somewhere important."

"An Alternate Netherworld, huh?" Etna seemed mildly interested, "Didn't that big flaming guy we fought in Blair Forest say he was an Overlord from one?" No one could forget the massive great wyrm that had appeared to challenge Laharl for Overlordship of this world. If King Krichevskoy's vassals hadn't appeared when they did…

"M-maybe we shouldn't go in. What if there are other demons there as strong as he was?" Flonne advised, gazing into the portal with worry.

"Bring 'em on! I'm a thousand times stronger than I was before," boasted the young Overlord. Somehow, it wasn't far from the truth. Laharl had quickly grown in strength over the course of the year.

"But Laharl, should you really invade another world just because you can?" the fallen angel pleaded delicately.

"Why not? It happens all the time," Laharl dismissed. Seeing he had not convinced the angel, he added, "besides, I'm not really **invading**, I'm just checking it out." _Yeah, that's right… _"Anyway, who's with me?"

Xavia stepped forward. "I will follow you wherever you lead us, Lord Laharl."

Ricon stepped forward next. "As will I."

Etna merely said, "well, I might as well come see the sights too." Her two vassals both agreed, though Nikka seemed convinced there would be an 'Alternate Nethermart' there. Flonne also agreed to come, but secretly just wanted to keep an eye on Laharl.

"I shall remain here to operate the gate," Zaeon said. "Send a beacon if you wish to return."

"Alright, let's check out this Alternate Netherworld." Laharl and his team boldly ventured toward the gate.

"Lord Laharl…" the royal attendant began.

"Yeah, what?" Laharl turned to her in mid stride, his scarf blowing impatiently.

"…Nothing. Farewell." 'Be careful' is what she wanted to say, but she knew he would just scoff at her needless concern. As she watched the Overlord and his vassals depart into the new and mysterious world, she could only hope he would be careful anyways.

On the other side they emerged at the field they had seen in the portal. The hazey colours were absent, and were probably an effect of the portal being connected to such a distant world. The field was rather barren, with a single tall tree leaning crooked against a mirky violet sky swirling with dark clouds. Judging from the darkness of the sky it was probably evening in this world, though it might just be that the sky was always that dark here.

"This place sure looks a lot more like a netherworld than ours does," Flonne observed, continuing to gaze at the gloom around them.

"Big deal, it's just a little hazier," Laharl dismissed. "My world is every bit as terrifying as this dump."

"Um, I wasn't exactly praising it…" Flonne glanced back at the lone forboding tree that looked sinister enough to spring to life and attack them at any moment.

"What a boring place," Etna looked around, seeing no signs of life at all. "You don't suppose the previous Overlord wiped everything out already, do you?"

"There better be something here," said Laharl. "I didn't go to all the trouble of fixing that gate for nothing."

No one bothered to point out that he had done nothing aside from placing and powering the crystal to fix the gate. The Overlord's company wandered onward across the dark grass and bumpy land, each keeping an eye out for danger, though some more seriously than others. Ricon scouted ahead as he usually did, searching for anything conspicuous. Etna hung back, chatting away with Flonne and Nikka, while Laharl marched on with Xavia and Jeryk at his side. It was not long before Ricon appeared with something to report.

"Lord Laharl, there is a powerful band of demons up ahead. They are heading straight for us."

"Hmm, it seems our arrival didn't go unnoticed," Laharl drew his large black sword.

"Wait Laharl! What if they're just here to welcome us to their world?" Flonne suggested. No one dignified that with a response.

The local demons were upon them in no time, claws, fists, fangs, axes, and swords brandished. There were all kinds of them, even some unfamiliar species. "There they are! The invaders! Get them!" a wolf-like demon barked.

"No wait! We aren't invaders!" Flonne pleaded, but she went unheard. The battle broke out in an instant. Ricon had already blasted the front lines with a Lion's Roar technique. Xavia drew her sword and Blade Rushed a line of attackers. A loud explosion, and the sight of many bodies flying through the air indicated Laharl had unleashed his Overlord's Wrath. The wolf-like demon was about to pounce on Flonne, but before he could, she cast an icy spell that blew him away. Their attackers quickly realized they were outmatched, and retreated back in the direction to which they came.

"Morons, this is no way to greet an Overlord," shouted Laharl to their foe's backs. "Next time send someone who isn't a weakling!"

"They will likely send for reinforcements," Xavia sheathed her sword, "we must be on guard."

"Good, then I won't be bored," Laharl tucked his sword back into his scarf.

"Shall I track them down, Lord Laharl?" Ricon suggested.

"Sure," Laharl shrugged.

Ricon took off after their assailants, but turned up two minutes later reporting they had vanished through a dimensional portal. "I overheard one of them mention 'returning to the castle'. Perhaps they were vassals of the Overlord here."

"Hmhmhmm, all the better. I should pay a visit to this world's Overlord. Let's go find their castle."

"Just imagine what kind of treasure might be in this netherworld!" Etna grinned gleefully, "Ooooohoohoohooo! I can't wait to find out..."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Flonne whined, reluctantly following her comrades further into the strange new world.

* * *

Inside a chamber of elaborate crystal pillars, the wolf-demon marched up to the throne. "My Lady, the invaders are stronger than we thought. One of them even claimed to be an Overlord. We could not defeat them."

"Really?" the red-haired figure upon the throne let out a sigh. "You guys are so useless. Looks like I'll have to take care of them myself…" She grinned sinisterly.

* * *

_Part 5 -Fin_


	6. Invitation From Another Darkness

_ **KappeZ: **Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been having serious problems with my internet lately and I couldn't upload a thing. I seemed to have fluked out, and managed to get this chapter up. I really want to finish this story, as I have big plans for the future plot.  
_

**Prinny: **Good luck. It's not gonna happen, dood.

_**KappeZ: **Don't make me toss you._

* * *

A large eruption of fire blew a large chunk of earth a mile away from the canyon. Many bodies of demons soared through the air before landing each with a separate **thud **upon the rocky ground.

"Alright, **talk!** Where's the Overlord's Castle?" Laharl demanded, shaking an imp by the collar. But there was no response, the demon had long since fainted.

"Laharl! Don't be so rough!" pleaded Flonne. "You could have just asked nicely!" No matter how long Flonne had lived with demons, she could still not grasp their concept of 'asking for directions'.

"They probably would have attacked us anyway," Etna considered. "The demons in this netherworld sure are aggressive. Their overlord must be a real terror."

"Not as much as I am!" Laharl boasted, tossing the useless limp demon next to a prickly weed.

"Yo, there's somethin' goin' on over here!" called Jeryk from a nearby cliff.

Everyone turned to look where he was pointing. A swirling circular portal was beginning to take shape in mid-air. Once it materialised, a great hall with crystal pillars could be seen.

"What's going on? Where did this portal come from?" puzzled the fallen angel.

"Oooooh, sparkly!" Nikka peered excitedly at the image in the portal. "Do you think that could be the Overlord's Castle on the other side?"

"Only one way to find out…" Laharl determinedly moved toward the portal.

"Wait Lord Laharl, it is most likely a trap." Ricon cautioned in his deep voice.

"I know that!" retorted the hot-headed overlord, "but how else are we going to reach the castle?"

"Hey, I have an idea!" Etna began. "Let the Prince go in first to set off…I mean, see if there are any traps?"

"No way! I'm not being your guinea pig!"

"But just a moment ago you were about to go in anyway…" she said, disappointed.

"I shall go in first, since this is one of my specialties," Ricon volunteered. "With your permission, Lord Laharl?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," agreed Laharl.

"Be careful, Ricon," Flonne urged.

The shinobi performed a kind of salute, then stepped calmly into the portal. He was seen emerging on the other side where the crystalline hall was. Everything seemed normal as he scanned the room for traps. He then quickly motioned to the others it was safe to pass through, and they did so. Once the whole of the overlord's company was standing in the hall, the portal behind them collapsed. The interior was a lightly pastel colour with several sets of steps leading slowly upward where they faced. Lining the hall on either side were those crystal pillars, glistening from light which seemed to glow off the ceiling from an unseen source.

"This place looks even flashier on the other side," Etna noted. She glanced around purposefully, probably looking for things worth stealing more than enjoying the architecture. As she spotted some golden ornamental weapons on the walls, she regretted not being able to bring the prinnies or her thief, Lyle.

"Be cautious," Ricon warned, "I see no traps, but I sense a malicious presence nearby. It's possibly the same one who opened the portal for us."

"Hey! We know you're there! Show yourself!" Laharl's demanding shout echoed down the hallway.

In answer, a laugh echoed back. It was a cocky female laugh that reverberated off the walls and surrounded them. The floor beneath them suddenly began to glow a light violet, then before anyone could move or think, they were sucked into the ground as if there was no ground at all….

* * *

It was pitch black. The floor was rocky and cold, and the air was stuffy and damp. Laharl stood up, wondering where the hell he was now. He rubbed his slightly sore head, which had impacted the fall. Thankfully, he had not fallen very far…only about fifteen or twenty feet…(guess what Etna said about him being thick-headed was true…) Nonetheless, he was glad it was dark, and none of his vassals had seen his less-than-graceful fall, if they were even nearby. He heard water dripping, and guessed he had fallen into a dungeon cavern. He could only see about five feet in front of him, which was far enough to make out a shadowy figure approaching him. It only took a second later before the sound of steel clashing echoed through the cave. Laharl's Cosmic Blade met the custom made Bushin-Hahakiri, a sword that looked very familiar…

"My apologies, Lord Laharl," Xavia said, even though it wasn't her fault in particular. She sheathed her sword and bowed, causing her slightly ruffled long black hair to cascade forward.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" the overlord vented, also putting away his sword. He held up a fist which ignited with his demonic fire, illuminating the nearby area. They were in a cavern all right, and a large one at that. There was no sign of the others anywhere, just rocky walls and blackness. "How the hell did we end up here? I thought Ricon said there were no traps?" Laharl looked upward, expecting to see light from a hole they had fallen from, but saw only the rocky cavern ceiling.

"That didn't feel like a normal trap," Xavia said. "It looks like we were separated somehow."

"Whatever the case, let's get out of this cave. I can't keep this up forever." Laharl indicated his burning fist; their only source of light. "Let me know if you see anything flammable." Picking a direction, they began walking through the murky shadows. There wasn't a potential torch to be seen, just rocks, stalagmites, and the constant sound of 'drip…drip…drip…' that would slowly drive them insane if they didn't find a way out. Laharl kept his flame dim to use up as little energy as possible while maintaining it. Even overlords don't have a bottomless supply of energy, and who knows how big this cave is? It wasn't long in their search for freedom when they heard it. Neither of them was surprised in the least. Of course a big gloomy underground cavern would have monsters. But it was inconvenient nonetheless.

Xavia drew her Bushin-Hahakiri from her waist. "Lord Laharl, allow me." The creature stepped into view, faintly illuminated by the blazing fist. It was huge and furry, with deadly fangs, like a giant ravenous bear-tiger. It's beady white eyes were squinting, not used to any kind of light source in it's dark home. It let out a roar of frustration and hunger, making out the two delicious-looking demons in the light that irritated it so. It paced about the edge of the illumination, hoping in vain to find a spot where the light was less bright and painful on the eyes. Xavia held her sword ready, waiting for the creature's inevitable strike. When hunger finally overcame discomfort, the creature lunged towards them, vicious fangs open wide. It was greeted by a slash to the chest from Xavia. It reeled back in sudden agony, it's roar of outrage echoing violently throughout the cavern. It lashed out in retaliation with it's long, deadly claws. The sword master was not able to evade the full force of the sudden attack from her giant beastly foe. Taking a slash to her chest and upper abdomen, she stumbled back, but kept her sword held firm. The creature began a follow up attack, bringing its other clawed hand down to meet her. But a sudden intensity of the light caused it to howl and look away. Laharl had flared up his demonic fire, giving Xavia the opening she needed. In a flash, she had landed so many slashes upon the beast, it was dead before it could comprehend pain. It hit the rocky floor with a mighty impact, as Xavia appeared beside her master. She produced a long cloth, and wiped her blade clean of blood and fur before sheathing it back in her sash. As she did so, she took a covert glance at her wounds. The slash was not deep, but was bloody and painful nonetheless. The sarashi wrapping her chest was slightly shredded, but otherwise still intact. She felt a pang of shame that Laharl had to help her. "I apologise for needing your assistance, Lord Laharl." She lowered her head.

"What are you talking about?" Laharl demanded. "I just got bored, that's all. Now let's get the hell out of this stupid cave!" They marched forward at a faster pace, determined to find an exit, if there even was one. Xavia took out some spare cloth and wrapped up her wounds, though she didn't have enough to secure the entire length of the cuts. The fresh blood soon attracted swarms of demonic bats, who swooped down from the ceiling, eager for a bite. Laharl warded them off by intensifying his flame whenever they came near. Xavia took to using a well-placed Wind Cutter against the bolder ones who ventured too close for comfort. This strategy did nothing to help their slowly exhausting state. "These pests are starting to piss me off!" Laharl punched out a particularly large bat with his free hand. "Don't they know when to give up?"

"I think their plan is that we're supposed to give up," Xavia took a swing at another cluster of bloodthirsty fiends.

"Argh, **I'm sick of this!**" Laharl's flame began to grow rapidly, fuelled by his fury.

"Wait Lord Laha-" but Xavia was cut off by the roar of Laharl's demonic fire crashing into the stone roof above. The bats scattered and fled for their lives as boulders rained in every direction. Laharl and his vassal took cover as large chunks of rocks bombarded the spot they had stood only moments before. When the sound of toppling rocks died down, both of them noticed it was significantly brighter. A large hole had been blown into the ceiling, from which light was pouring into the cavern.

"Ha! My escape plan worked! I knew it would. Now we can get out of this dump!** Haaaaaaahahahahahaaa!**" Laharl let his signature laugh echo all around the cavern, as if to taunt the place with his escape.

_Did he really plan that?_ Xavia scepticised. She decided to keep her doubts to herself as she leapt to freedom through the hole with her brash young overlord. They emerged in what appeared to be a large cavern/cellar. The floor was still rocky, but was more even, apart from stalagmites jutting out at odd places. Large crates were stacked and strewn about the room, and some had toppled over due to the force of Laharl's explosive entrance. There was dim light coming from glowing crystals embedded in the ceiling, but compared to the cavern below, they were quite radiant.

"We're in **another** stupid cave?" Laharl grumbled loudly. "At least this one has light."

"Where do you suppose the others are?" Xavia wondered, glancing back into the blackness of the cave below. _Could they still be down there?_

Laharl paused for a second before responding, "wherever they are, we'll know soon enough when I find the person who sent us here and **beat** the information out of 'em!" _…Besides, you made enough noise for us to find our way out no problem,_ Etna's voice drifted into his head. _Shut up!_ Laharl retorted his own thought. _Geez, I've been hanging around her too much._

The determination of her young lord seemed to extinguish her doubt. Xavia also noticed they had both experienced a moment of weakness. _Do I really care if they are ok? I do, don't I? And Lord Laharl…he does too…He's proved it before, when we were in Celestia…_The sword master remembered vividly the events that had taken place in the Seraph's chamber. Laharl had been so furious, but he had spared the Seraph's life. Then, he had been willing to sacrifice his own life to revive Flonne. It seemed foolish to Xavia at the time, for someone with all his power to simply give up everything to save another. And yet, she understood. If she could have done the same thing that time, long ago…

"Hey! Netherworld to Xavia! Stop staring into space and let's get out of here already! Maybe I should just leave you behind!" Laharl had already half-ascended a stone stairway leading upward, an impatient frown creased his face.

"N-n-no!" the sword master shook her head vigorously, snapping back into reality. "I'm coming, Lord Laharl!"

* * *

_Back in Celestia…_

"I see it!" cried a young male angel to the others nearby. He had been focusing his mind on a pool below him, which reflected whatever the viewer was trying to see. He adjusted the bangs of his light blue hair, which had a tendency to get in his eyes, and spoke: "Someone is forcing their way into the Netherworld! It looks like…a small group of people. I can't make out who they are."

"Is that so?" Archangel Aurora paced towards him, and looked into the area of the pool he had been focusing on. "Yes, I see them too. Good job, Teal."

Teal, the younger angel, blushed at his master's approval. Other members of the Celestial Host gathered there gave him covert glances of envy.

Aurora peered into the pool with deep concentration. "There are four of them. And if I were to guess…they are all demons. One of them has great power, I can feel it."

"But, Mistress Aurora, why woulddemons need to break into their own world?" a short, dumpy female angel with freckles and huge glasses asked.

"There is more than one Netherworld," Aurora answered simply. "And it is not uncommon for them to fight amongst themselves. What **is** uncommon, is the method of travel these demons have chosen. They are ripping through the fabric of space, rather than opening a portal with a dimensional gate. Such methods are dangerous. They could cause permanent damage to the space between worlds. No wonder we felt it from here. I thought our world was the target, but it seems I was wrong. Regardless, I should report this to Master Lamington. Keep an eye on their activities until I return."

"Yes, Mistress Aurora," rang the other angels. They watched as their leader marched up the stone steps that lead away from the Pool of Watching, then turned left and headed toward the Seraphic Sanctuary. In her absence, they began conversing.

"So it's no big deal, right? I mean, the damage is done to space and all. The demons will just fight and kill each other anyway. Why should we care?" voiced the short angel with glasses.

"Don't forget Carol," an ebony-haired angel said. "Flonne lives there now. Master Lamington wouldn't want anything happening to his precious pet."

"But he turned her into a demon right? And now she lives with demons! Why does Master Lamington care about a demon-freak like her?" Carol wondered bitterly.

"Hey, that's enough," Teal spoke up. "Flonne became a Fallen Angel so that she could be the ambassador between our worlds. Master Lamington and Flonne are working towards making peace between angels and demons. Don't you want that?"

"What's the point?" snapped Carol. "Demons are vicious and violent. I don't care what Master Lamington said, they just can't be trusted. Even if some of them are ok, there's gotta be more than a few bad ones."

"The same could be said about us too though. Look what Vulcanus did." Everyone knew it was true. Their former archangel had manipulated the humans into attacking the netherworld, and even conspired to overthrow the Seraph.

"Well, yeah, but, there are way more bad demons than bad angels. That's for sure!" Carol huffed.

Teal gazed into the pool, feeling that ignorance truly was bliss.

* * *

_Part 6 -Fin_


	7. Destructive Paths Converge

**_KappeZ:_**_ I updated! Is anyone else amazed? Sorry for the huge delay. I had put this story aside to work on a more vital project. My friends and I are starting a manga, and I'm doing the story. I started playing Disgaea again recently, thus my rekindled inspiration. I'll keep on writing this fic, though it's kinda backseat right now._

**Prinny:** Just get on with the story, dood!

**_KappeZ:_** _Okay, okay, geez..._

* * *

A dark wind howled across the rocky landscape. The netherworld sky had darkened, leading the four figures below to the assumption it was night time here. They took a moment to take in their new scenery after emerging from the rip in space behind them. Dead trees and stone formations littered the uneven land. Tall, jagged mountain ranges could be seen black against the starry night sky. The largest figure, a suit of living armor spoke: "So, this is the place?" His voice broke over the sound of the wind like a rumble of deep thunder.

A lean but muscular female demon clad in black crushed a dead branch beneath her heel. "I thought it would be more impressive than this. Where are all the powerful warriors, Lord Taron?" she growled.

"Patience, Seshira," spoke a figure wearing armor the colour of dried blood. His spikey white hair blew wildly in the wind. He glared at the landscape with his cold, narrow eyes, taking in the sight of a world he had lived in once before. It was both nostalgic and repulsing to finally be back in this netherworld.

"What's our next move?" spoke the last figure, a demon with jet black hair and a studded leather vest. He glanced idly at the large black rip in space behind them, which was slowly starting to shrink.

There was a pause as the demon called Taron continued to glare off to the distance. Then, he turned to his three vassals. "The time has come. We will make our way to the Overlord's Castle. There I will extract my revenge."

* * *

Laharl and Xavia had ascended to the next part of the cavern. It was a lot more open on this floor. Stone stairways continued upwards in various directions, giving the cavern a strange mazey look. More crystals hung on cielings and pillars, casting their dim light upon the various platforms. There were several boilers strewn throughout the cavern with pipes leading to the ceiling. Stalagmites continued to jut out in odd places.

"This place just keeps getting wierder," Laharl noted. "What's up with all the boilers?" Before an explanation could materialise, they heard loud gunshots and several roars and shrieks on a platform above. Xavia and Laharl dashed up the steps to see the commotion firsthand.

Jeryk the scout, Etna's vassal, was fighting off two berserk golems and a spectre wearing a red wide-brimmed witch's hat. With clenched teeth, Jeryk fired the last of his clip of bullets into one of the golems, who took it all in like a giant marshmallow being stuffed with chocolate chips. The other golem sent its fist into the spot where the scout had been standing seconds before. The spectre seemed to be in charge, and was screeching out orders while charging a spell in its hands. Jeryk was about to reload, when a skeletal soldier lunged at him with a sword brandished. A ball of hellfire rushed out of nowhere and collided with the skeleton. Bones flew in every direction, and the sword it had been holding narrowly missed Jeryk's head as he ducked in time to aviod the boney shrapnel. When he looked back up he saw, to a degree of relief, Overlord Laharl and Xavia the swordmaster enter the fray.

"Oi, what took ya so long?" he shouted over the sound of a nearby explosion while he reloaded his gun, the custom made 'Tiamat mk2'.

"Just be glad we decided to salvage your butt!" Laharl shouted back while deflecting the spectre's spell of giant icicles. Xavia executed a lightning-fast Blade Rush which severed the other golem horizontally in two. It began to search for its lower half as the rest of the enemy demons made a hasty retreat. Laharl pinned the defeated spectre to a rocky wall with one hand, and held a Blazing Knuckle inches from its hooded face with the other. "Alright, speak up if you know what's good for you. Where are we?"

"Th-the cellar," was all the spectre said, in his high ethereal voice.

"The cellar of **what?**" Laharl demanded, holding his burning fist a little closer to the ghostly foe.

"Th-the palace!" he quickly replied.

"So, we **are** in the Overlord's Castle. Where are the rest of my vassals?"

"Your vassals?" The spectre peered up at the demon child before him.

Laharl was getting impatient. "Yes, you idiot, my vassals! I am Overlord Laharl! And if you don't answer my questions, we'll have the pleasure of finding out what barbequed ghost tastes like!"

"I-I don't know! You were all teleported to different parts of the dungeons!" The spectre attempted to squirm away from the burning fist, but Laharl grasped his cloak tighter by the neck.

"And how do we get out of here?"

"Up the stairs..."

Laharl glanced briefly at the many winding stone staircases that lead upward. "Well, **duh!** **Which stairs?**"

The spectre seized the opportunity. He motioned to point at the correct staircase, then a blinding flash of light issued from his gloved hand. "**Arrgh!**" Laharl instinctively let go of the spectre to cover his dazzled eyes, but before he could correct his mistake, it was too late. The spectre had vanished. "**Rrrgh! Where did he go?**" Laharl glanced in every direction, but only staircases and boilers were to be seen.

"He kinda went ethereal and faded into the wall." Jeryk, who had the keenest eyes, had seen his escape while squinting through the bright light. "Ghosts are slippery that way, eh?"

"What shall we do about this one?" Xavia pointed her sword at the upper half of the severed golem, who had been trying to crawl away when nobody was looking. He proved much more willing to point them in the right direction, and soon the three were hurrying up the staircase leading to the upper level, leaving the golem to be joyously reunited with his lower half.

"Hey, wait...Are golems supposed to be cut in two?" Laharl questioned, never really having learned golem anatomy.

"Beats me," Jeryk shrugged. "The demons in this netherworld do seem a bit different though, ya think?"

"I agree. This place is as alien to us as we are to it," said Xavia.

"Seems pretty similar to me-" Laharl's mouth hung open in mid speech as he beheld the large room they had climbed to. Wild flowers and plants were growing from all corners of the uneven floor, which was nothing more than dirt. The room was oval shaped, about the size of a hockey rink. From the ceiling, shafts of light were pouring in, indicating they were not far from the surface. Othar than that, it looked just like a dungeon with gray brick walls. The flowers were a wide veriety of shapes and colours. Some of the larger ones were bigger than Laharl. "What the? It looks like someone opened up Flonne's head in here!" The description would have been accurate, except that some of the plants in the underbrush were rather thorny and vicious-looking. The young overlord picked up a faint noise from a bundle of flowery vines on the ground nearby. They trembled slightly. "Oh great, let me guess…" They each drew their weapons, prepared for the whole room to suddely attack them, when a figure in dark ninja garb emerged from the tangled greenery and collapsed face-first into the soil. There were scratches all over his bandaged arms and legs, but he looked the worst for wear when he lifted his head to reveal red puffy eyes.

"L-Lord Laharl..." Ricon gasped, pulling himself up to a stand. He coughed and hacked as he made his way toward his young master.

"Ricon? What happened to you?" Laharl looked puzzled at the state of one of his strongest vassals, subdued by plants, then remembered. "Oh, right, allergies."

"I must apologise," the allergy-stricken shinobi lowered his head, "I was unable to detect the trap. It was a well-hidden portal in the floor, activated by some unknown magic." He ended his sentence with another coughing fit.

"Well, it's too late to care now. Let's hurry up and find the others," Laharl said hastily, turning back to the staircase that continued upward. What they didn't see, was some of the underbrush give a faint lurch, and a kunai impaled on the largest, thorniest plant that was limp and defeated.

Ricon and the others followed, also noting their overlord seemed rather hasty for a demon who claimed to feel compassion for no one. Etna, Flonne, and Nikka were still unaccounted for, and who knows how big this castle was? The portal in the floor had not only seperated them, but had strategically placed them all in dangerous places. Who knows what kind of peril the others were facing right now?...

* * *

"Kyaaaah! No! Not that!" Flonne's high pitched scream echoed across the hall adorned with stone pillars and lava pits. Herself and Nikka were tied securely to one of the pillars, and were surrounded by a troupe of skeleton soldiers. The leader of the troupe, a manticore wearing an intimidating black leather mask, held up a long feather while his soldiers removed their footwear.

"Nooooo, my shoes! Those were really expensive!" Nikka squirmed and kicked, giving the skeletons a difficult time in the process.

"P-please! Have mercy!" pleaded Flonne, who was exceptionally weak to tickle-torture.

"Let's get started, shall we?" The masked manticore held the feather dangerously close to her toes.

"Noooooo! Help!" Flonne squealed, hoping somehow Laharl or any of the vassals would appear and rescue them.

"Talk! Who's your leader? What are the invasion plans?" barked the manticore.

"I told you, we're not invaders!" the fallen angel pleaded desperately. The manticore commenced tickling, and Flonne burst out in frantic laughter, tears streaming down her face.

"I'll get you for this, you big meanie!" Nikka continued writhing in her bonds, teeth clenched in stubborn but futile defiance.

"Lets see you try, mage girl." The manticore cackled. "Too bad you're tied up and can't use spells. It's your turn now. Talk!" He held the feather under Nikka's feet next.

"As if!" the mage promptly stuck out her tongue at their captors, only to get a tickling of a lifetime. "**Kyaaahahahaaa!**" Nikka shrieked, causing some of the skeleton soldiers to instinctively cover the sockets of their non-existant ears.

"You'd better start talking now," the manticore barked. "Or should we move up to the next level?" With an evil grin, he pulled out a longer, finer, somehow more intimidating feather.

"Eeek!" Flonne squirmed in horror. "I swear we're not invaders! Please let us go!"

After another round of tickles yielded no information, the manticore decided to up the ante. "So, you're still gonna be difficult? Well, I guess it's time for round three." He stuck the feather in a basin of fire, causing it to ignite. He pulled out the flaming feather with a sadistic smile. "How about **this?** It tickles **and** burns at the same time! **Gwaahahahahaa!**"

"No...way..." Flonne looked like she was ready to faint, while Nikka just gazed at the flaming feather with awestruck horror.

"Feel like talking now? Gwahaha-" the manticore's sadistic laughter was cut off by the force of someone landing on his head. The flaming feather drifted to the ground and extinguished. Standing on the faceplanted torturer was a familiar red-haired, black clad demoness, spear drawn.

"Hey guys! You seemed to be in a bit of a **bind,** so I thought I'd **drop in.**"

"Etna!" Flonne squeaked with delight.

"Mistress!" Nikka squealed happily.

"Yeah, I know, too many bad puns."

"Mrrgh!" the manticore lurched, forcing Etna to jump off his head. He stood abruptly, leaving behind an interesting shape in the stone floor. Bits of gravel clung to his black leather mask, his eyes furious. "**Who did that?"** he bellowed, glancing around wildly.

"Over here, Kinky Man," Etna taunted from behind him.

The masked manticore whirled around and took a blind, furious swipe at Etna, but the demoness was no longer there. She had vaulted with a handstand over his head, and landed near the pillar where the fallen angel and her vassal were tied. With a downward swipe of Longinus, she freed them from their bonds. "Oh, thank you Etna!" Flonne instantly ran up and gave their red-haired savior a bear hug, with Nikka following suit.

"G-guys! Cut it out! That's embarassing, geez..." Etna tried to pry herself free from the overdose of gratitude.

The manticore gazed livid at the trio, then equally livid at his idle troops, who simply stood and gazed cluelessly at the scene. "**What are you boneheads doing? Get them!**" his roar shook the halls.

The skeleton soldiers abruptly snapped to life, drawing their weapons and charging at them. Etna, Flonne, and Nikka quickly found themselves in a tight situation. Etna swung her spear, knocking away the closest boney warrior. Flonne held out her arms to cast a shield spell to block a flank attack. The light of the spell quavered wildly from their blows. "Th-this would be a lot easier if I had my staff."

"Same here." Nikka roasted some skeletons who tried to go for an opening in the spell. They were getting too close for comfort, and her spells could not travel as far without her staff's amplification.

Etna spun around, taking two more skeletons out in the process. "You're stuff's over there," she pointed to the far end of the hall where two huge suits of armor stood on either side of an unceremonious pile of Flonne and Nikka's belongings. Sure enough, their staves lay on top of the stack of travel bags, purses, and footwear. One staff was angelic and silver, the other with black bat wings. "I'll distract them, you two go for it," Etna twirled her spear, causing a hurricane to form and blow back a large number of skeletons.

Nikka and Flonne ran for it, bare feet patting the warm stone floor, heated from their proximity to the lava pools on either side. They made it halfway there when some soldiers emerged to intercept them. "Outta the way, **smell**etons!" Nikka shouted, blasting them away with a powerful star spell. Flonne contributed with a round of holy arrows, fired from her fingertips. Their combined spells were enough to knock them away like Jenga blocks. "That's for getting your grubby hands all over my shoes!" Nikka stuck her tongue out at the piles of bones as they ran by.

"How do you know those were the ones who took our shoes?" Flonne asked.

"I dunno, they all look the same to me!" confessed the mage.

The duo managed to reach their belongings without further incident. Nikka instantly grabbed her expensive, shiny red shoes and inspected them for damage. "Oh, nooo! They're all smuged," she whined, cradling them like infants.

"It's okay," Flonne reassured her, while donning her long white boots. "I have some great shoepolish from Celestia back at the castle."

"Helloooo? You guys mind giving me a little help here?" Etna shouted back indignantly, while fending off the army of skeleton warriors.

"Oh, right! Coming Etna!" Flonne picked up her silver staff and was about to run back to help.

"Eeeek! Look out!" Nikka shrieked. Flonne turned back just in time to see one of the giant suits of armor draw it's huge sword. She quickly darted out of the way as the blade slammed into the ground. She turned back in time to see the other suit of armor take a swing at Nikka. Flonne raised her staff and cast a huge gust of wind that blew it back. It was times like these the fallen angel was glad she had learned some elemental spells during her stay in the netherworld. Nikka grabbed her staff and ran behind Flonne, looking horrified. "S-scary!"

"It's okay, I think we can take 'em." Flonne reassured the mage, gripping her staff firmly. The suit of armor that had been hit with the wind spell got up. It was completely unscathed. "Or...maybe not?" Both suits of armor advanced on them, one with it's giant sword, the other with a huge menacing axe. Angel and mage both glanced at each other in a moment of mutual thought; _'RUN!'_

Just as the duo turned to flee, the giant sword crashed to the floor in front of them, and the other suit of armor closed in on them. Flonne and Nikka huddled together in terror beneath it's menacing shadow. _Maybe I should've stayed behind after all..._ Flonne grimly thought.

"N-nooo...I'm too cute to die!" Nikka cried. They braced for the final, merciless blow...

The wall behind the suits of armor exploded, sending huge chunks of stone debris into them, knocking them away. A loud and familiar laugh reverberated throughout the hall: "**Haaaaahahahahahaaa!**"

The dust blew aside to reveal a certain spikey-haired young overlord standing in a huge hole in the wall that he created. Arms crossed, he surveyed his destructive handiwork with satisfaction, until...

"Laharl!" Flonne leapt up and tackled him into a vice-like hug.

"F-Flonne? What're you...Get off! You're ruining my cool and fiendish entrance!" Laharl wriggled free of the angel's grip.

"I'm so glad you're here! I thought we were goners."

"Who else is here?" Laharl inquired, as Xavia, Ricon, and Jeryk leapt up on the wall to join them.

"Etna's fighting over there," Flonne pointed urgently across the hall where a mass of skeleton soldiers were clustered, "and Nikka...Oh my!" Flonne caught sight of the mage lying unmoving on the ground, surrounded by debris, and leapt down to see if she was alright. Laharl and co. followed. "Oh, good, looks like she just fainted." Flonne breathed a sigh of relief after examining the unconscious mage.

"You and Ricon stay here and look after her," Laharl commanded, "The rest of us will go see if Etna's still alive..."

* * *

"This totally sucks..." Lyle the thief moaned, wiping grime off the tiles of the bathroom floor. He was still carrying out his sentence of cleaning the abandoned wing of the castle, and had been at it for over three days now. Fortunately, he managed to 'enlist' the help of some prinnies.

"Cheer up, dood. At least you're not us," one prinny was wiping the bowl of a toilet sparkly clean. "There's no way we'd get away with stealing the King's throne. We'd be deep-fried into prinny-bits for sure, dood."

"Yeah, well I'm too awesome, so there's no way anything like that would happen to me," Lyle boasted.

"Whatever you say, dood. Just remember our bonus pay."

"Yeah, yeah."

Lyle and the prinnies continued to toil away, completely unaware that just outside the castle, four shadowy figures plotted their takeover...

* * *

_Part 7 -Fin_


	8. Heated Battles

"Just how many of these guys are there?" Etna knocked aside two more skeletons, only to have three more rush her. She had been slowly pushed back by their advance, and was now perilously close to the edge of the stone floor. She could feel the discomforting heat of the bubbling lava below. _Why do so many demons insist on having pools of lava in ther castles?_ Etna wondered dismally, not being a fan of hot climates. (Kind of ironic, since she's named after a volcano?) She parried a strike from a skeleton's lance, and delivered one of her own. Unfortunately, the two other skeletons were ready for a followup. A sword and a mace scored glancing hits upon the demoness, who was quick to return the favor. Another sweep of Longinus bashed them aside, but still more skeleton soldiers advanced.

"Getting tired?" mocked the manticore from behind his skeletal army.

"Tired? No. Annoyed? Yes." Etna put her spear away and began focusing demonic energy into her hands, getting ready to use her most powerful attack. Some skeletons immediately rushed her, but she leapt backwards, causing them to collide into a boney heap. She then threw a small cluster of energy balls at them, scattering them into bone shrapnel. Still more skeletons advanced, only to get hit by the big energy ball at the end of her Chaos Impact. Etna landed perilously close to the edge of the floor where the lava pool began. Her landing was also greeted by the manticore lunging toward her, claws extended. Etna was siezed by the throat and held above the boiling lava pit, her feet barely making contact with the edge of the floor. She could feel the heat creep up her back.

"Gotcha," the manticore said triumphantly, his claws constricting Etna's neck. She realised too late she had bitten off more than she could chew. Perhaps taking on an entire skeleton army **and** their leader solo was a bit ambitious? "Any last words before I barbeque ya?" the manticore breathed in her face.

"Yeah. Ever heard of a breathmint?" she almost gagged. Unfortunately, this answer did nothing to aid her situation. She was abruptly released, and felt hot air rush all around her as she descended toward the fiery pool below. For one eternal second she knew she was a goner, then something collided with her, and she began soaring up and away. Opening her eyes, she came face-to-face with her vassal, Jeryk. He was holding up his gun, which had a grappling hook attached that had been fired at the ceiling, and they were now swinging on it. The James Bond theme was playing from some mysterious source.

"Heya mistress Etna. Looked like ya were headin' for the **deep end**, so I thought I'd **swing by.**"

Etna simply sighed. "Guess I'm not the only one who's in the mood for bad puns today." They landed on a large pillar in the middle of the lava pool.

Back at the pool's edge, the masked manticore was throwing a rather childish fit. "**Gggrraaarr! Get back here! I'll rip every hair out of your head! I'll break every bone in your body!** **And where the hell is that music coming from?**"

"That's the least of your concerns." Xavia the swordmaster had appeared beside him, holding her blade to his throat. His eyes moved from side to side to take in the sight of his remaining skeleton warriors lying in pieces on the ground, and a young demon with a red scarf and an evil grin rolling his foot on one of their skulls. In no time flat the manticore was tied up on the very pillar he had tied Flonne and Nikka. Overlord Laharl's entire reunited company now surrounded him.

"Well now," Laharl began, his arms crossed. "An interesting place you have here. But sight-seeing is over. We need to have a little talk with your Overlord. Where is he?"

"Forget it, brat!" barked the bound manticore. "I'm not telling you a thing!"

"I see," Laharl smirked. "Normally I'd handle the persuasions myself, but..." he nodded to Flonne and Nikka. Both grinned sinisterly, produced giant, flaming feathers, and advanced on their ex-torturer.

"N-n-nooooooo!" his cry echoed throughout the halls.

* * *

They eventually managed to get a decent amount of information from the manticore. It turns out they were in the lower section of the castle, and the only way to reach the overlord's chamber in the upper part is to go through a dimensional portal. Unfortunately, the portal room was on the far side of the castle, and Laharl's company was finding it difficult to navigate the many halls.

"Whoever designed this castle is definitely going on my 'To Kill' list," Etna grumbled, still sore from her skirmish with the skeleton mob. Flonne had patched up most of the party's wounds, though some were feeling drained from excessive combat or, in Flonne and Nikka's case, several near-death experiences.

"I wanna go hoooooome," Nikka whined, trudging along in her expensive shoes she had been so concerned with up until now.

"Keep it down," Ricon advised. "We don't want to alert any more guards."

"That's not a bad idea actually. I'm starting to get bored." Laharl started playing with a ball of his demonic fire.

"Shouldn't you save your strength Lord Laharl?" Xavia said, trying to sound casual rather than concerned.

"Nah. The overlord here is probably a wimp, judging by his wimpy vassals. Whatever weakling guards appear, I'll just blast them aside and make my way straight to the throne room. **Haaaaahahahahahaaa!**..."

* * *

About half an hour later, they had found the portal room, and...

"Great. Dragons..."

Three huge dragons stood between them and an equally huge dimensional portal. Unlike the small, wimpy ones they had fought on Blackness Peak, these were not wild pack demons, but strong, intelligent sentries. "Yep, they're dragons alright," Etna chimed in. "They look pretty tough too. Watcha gonna do, Prince?"

"You don't suppose they'll let us through, do you?" Flonne asked hopefully, though knowing full well the answer.

Laharl stepped forward to face the draconic guardians. "Hey, you guys! I'm the great and terrible Overlord Laharl! I demand to see your overlord at once! Let us pass!"

Two of the dragons snickered, while the third, their leader, snorted fire. "You're in no position to be ordering us around, brat. Go home." He spoke in a deep rasp.

Etna felt the need to point something out; "Uh, we can't exactly do that, even if we wanted to. We're kinda lost in here."

"Is that so?" rasped the dragon guard leader. "There's no helping it then..."

"S-so you'll let us pass?" Flonne meekly asked.

"No. We'll burn you to ash." The dragon leader stated matter-of-factly.

"Gee, how accommodating," Etna drew her spear just as Laharl swung out his sword. The dragons were upon them in seconds, spewing flames in force. Flonne cast a shield spell to blunt the impact. The raging fire overcame the spell, but it left Laharl's company enough time to avoid the blaze. In a flash, Ricon leapt up and connected with a roundhouse kick to one of the dragon's abdomens. He noticed the hardness of the beast's scales as his knee impacted the dragon's belly. The dragon, slightly winded, spun around with a mighty flap of his wings, attempting to smash Ricon away with his tail. A blazing fireball cast by Nikka suddenly impacted the dragon's back, but it just brushed harmlessly off him.

"Hey, that's no fair! Why didn't my spell work?" Nikka protested loudly, flailing her staff in a childish fit.

"Fire is their element, they're **strong** against it, ya ditz," Jeryk pointed out while firing off a bullet storm. "For a mage, ya sure are an **airhead**."

"Shut up, **Jerk**-ryk! Maybe we should see how fire resistant **you** are!" Nikka held her glowing staff menacingly close to Jeryk's head.

Another dragon landed inches from the quarrelling duo, ready to rent them apart with his claws. Etna stepped in just in time to block with Longinus. "Uh, guys, you can kill each other later. Let's focus on not getting slaughtered right now."

Xavia had joined Ricon to fight off the first dragon, getting a surprise attack in while Ricon dodged another stream of fire. When the dragon turned to deal with the swordmaster he was hit with an upward kick from the shinobi. Ricon executed a King of Beasts combo, but was foiled at the end when the dragon grasped hold of him and held him downward as they plummeted. Xavia leapt up to meet them, slashing away at the dragon's arms, causing him to release Ricon just in time. The dragon impacted the stone floor with a loud crash, creating a large crater.

Ricon nodded to Xavia in thanks after they landed, but they had barely time to enjoy solid ground before the dragon rose up again, furious for recieving the bloody cuts on his arms. "For that, you **burn!**" On that word he sent a burst of flames streaking towards them like a monstrous flaming runaway train.

In the eye of the storm, Laharl battled the dragon guard leader, Reigash. Laharl's black Cosmic Blade met the grasp of Reigash's diamond-like claws. They struggled, trying to unbalance each other. Reigash leaned forward, using his superior size as leverage. Laharl was losing his grip on his sword. He focused his demonic aura into the blade, causing it to radiate with energy. This was enough to disturb Reigash's grip, and in a flash the blade was released and Laharl had cut into him. Reigash staggered back two giant steps, but got back into a ready stance immediately. It would take more than one cut from this kid overlord to fell the great dragon guard leader. Still, he was strong. This would be an interesting battle...

Laharl leapt forth, ready to deal more damage to his draconic foe. Reigash rapidly swung around, whipping Laharl with his mace-like tail. Laharl blunted the impact with his sword and backflipped from the force of the blow. Laharl landed at the edge of the stone platform near the large gate. "All right, you asked for it!" He focused his aura into the blade once more, and unleashed a powerful Dimension Slash. Reigash barely had time to react. With a strong flap of his wings he managed to avoid most of the slash, taking a glancing hit to his right side. The aftermath of the slash caused stone rubble to fly everywhere as it impacted the ground and wall. A thick layer of dust kicked up, concealing the dragon from Laharl's view. Seconds of eerie silence ticked by...

"Show yourself!" Laharl challenged, swinging his sword impatiently at the swirling dust causing some of it to blow aside. This proved to be a mistake as the dragon, with a now clear view of the young overlord, answered with a blast of flame. All Laharl could do was brace for the fiery impact. The temperature around him soared as blinding flames engulfed him.

"Laharl!" Flonne screamed, witnessing his disappearance into the fire. She darted up the stairs to the platform where he had been standing, fearing the worst. Could Laharl withstand such intense flames? She could feel the heat from her location below. She was halfway up when the fire suddenly parted.

Laharl emerged like a phoenix, slightly singed, but otherwise intact. "I actually felt that," he scoffed, raising his sword toward Reigash. The dragon let out a growl of fury, and with a mighty flap of his wings, took to the air, ready to divebomb the arrogant demon child. This was fine with him though, as Laharl leapt up to meet him. They clashed once more, blade on claws, then flew back to the pillars on each side of the chamber. As soon as Laharl landed, he saw himself glow and felt a new surge of power flow through him. Flonne had cast the Braveheart spell on him. "This will be too easy now," he stated with a grin. He looked forward to see Reigash already swooping towards him. He leapt forth again to meet the dragon in mid-air, but this time he had the advantage. He parted the dragon's guard with one mighty sword swing, then delivered a punishing Nightsever attack. Reigash was defeated. He plummeted to the ground and landed with an earth-shaking crash that nearly broke the platform in two. Laharl landed nearby, sword ready, just in case.

Flonne, panting, reached him. "Is he...? Oh, I hope he's still alive. I think you overdid it, Laharl."

_Always compassion for the enemy, _Laharl sighed in his head. _What a love freak..._ "He's fine, I didn't cut him too deeply. Besides, we might need him alive so we can use this ga-" Laharl's mouth dropped.

"What's wrong Laharl?" The fallen angel looked over and saw it. The gate had partially collapsed from the violent force of the battle. Large sections had crumbled away, including the crystal that was powering it. Flonne could just imagine what Super Robot Thursday would say if he were here: _'BEEP BEEP BLIP BEEP. STRUCTURAL DAMAGE ABOVE 68%. BROKEN! BROKEN! BROKEN!'_

The other two dragons broke off from their battles, knowing the fall of their leader meant impending defeat. Laharl's company gathered near their overlord, some looking worse for wear. Xavia had taken the brunt of a dragon's breath attack and was badly burned. Flonne immediately began tending to her wounds. Nikka had drained her magic, and could barely walk due to exhaustion. She almost drifted off to sleep in the arms of Jeryk, who was also very drained, and could barely produce any more magical ammo. The two dragons landed near the fallen Reigash, making sure he was still alive.

Etna was the first to notice the destruction. "Nice going, Prince. Way to destroy our only way of reaching the overlord."

"Gimme a break. **You** try fighting a dragon guard leader without destroying anything," Laharl retorted childishly.

"What are we going to do now?" Flonne asked, her demon tail twitching unconsciously.

"Too bad we don't have the dimensional gate repair team with us," Etna remarked.

"Yeah, that would've been handy," Laharl observed gravely. Before they had any more time to sulk over the situation, a faint swirl of energy began to form in the remnants of the gate. "What's going on? Is a dimensional portal being formed from the other side?"

"It looks like our master wishes to meet you," boomed the deep voice of Reigash, who was being supported by his subordinates. "Consider yourselves unlucky."

"What are you muttering about? I'll just clobber him like I did you." Laharl shot him a cocky grin.

The fallen dragon guard leader let out a deep foreboding laugh. "You are strong, young overlord. But our overlord is a terror among demons. You're in over your head."

"We'll see about that." Laharl turned away from Reigash and faced the portal. The other side was now visible. A crystalline hall, much like the one they had seen before they were seperated, lead to a bright florescent chamber filled with pillars and glowing symbols on the floor.

"That looks like an important room. Y'think it's the throne room?" Jeryk adjusted his hold on Nikka so she wouldn't drool all over him.

"I'll bet some of that stuff is worth a fortune..." Etna gazed at the glistening room gleefully, eyeing the crystal chandeliers in particular (sooo much nicer than the one Lyle stole).

"We should be cautious. It could be another trap," Ricon pointed out, not much enjoying the last experience.

"That's a good point," Laharl raised his sword to the injured dragon's face. "Maybe we should send one of these guys ahead of us to make sure."

The two subordinates growled in protest, but Reigash merely looked Laharl in the eye. "I swear by my honour as a dragon guard, it is not a trap. If you are not convinced, send me in first."

Laharl pondered for a couple seconds, then lowered his blade. "No, that won't be necessary," he said indifferently. "Etna, Ricon, follow me through the portal. The rest of you stay here."

"But Laharl, won't you need us?" Flonne squeaked. "What if you have to fight the overlord?"

"That's **my** problem. Besides, the rest of you are too tired or injured to go on. You'll only get in my way."

"But, Lord Laharl..." Xavia began, only to flinch with pain from her burns, only semi-healed by Flonne's remaining power.

"You're staying here, and that's that," Laharl firmly stated. He turned to the dragons once more. "And if you guys try anything funny while I'm gone, I'll make you wish you never existed. Got it?"

The two subordinates glared, but Reigash let out a deep chuckle. "Concern for your vassals, I see?"

"N-no! It's not that. I just need them alive, because...they're useful. It would be a pain to try and find decent replacements. That's all." Whatever their overlord might say, they all knew Reigash hit the nail on the head.

"We are defeated. There is no further need for us to fight." The Dragon Guard Leader assured, succeeding in masking the jolt of pain that suddenly coursed through his wounds.

"Good." Laharl stepped up to the portal with building anticipation. Etna and Ricon followed stride. "Let's go. We shouldn't keep our 'host' waiting any longer."

"Good luck!" Flonne called off after them. Their images became blurry as they passed through the portal leading to the overlord's chamber. She knew a final showdown between overlords was about to take place…but who would win?

* * *

_Part 8 -Fin_


	9. Overlord vs Overlord

**_KappeZ: _**_Revival! After many months of neglect, I have finally finished Part 9! I'm terribly sorry for leaving you all hanging, but I've been busy concentrating on the writing of my manga_ 'Blood of the Overlord'_. (Which, incidentally, has nothing to do with Disgaea, but is my own original story. Though, there is definitely a degree of inspiration.) I hope to get a website for it up and running soon. _

**Prinny:** Are you done with the shameless advertising, dood?

**_KappeZ:_**_ Maybe?...Anyway, on with the story..._

* * *

Shortly after the trio emerged on the other side, the portal collapsed behind them. No turning back now, but Laharl didn't care. He was finally going to meet the overlord of this alternate netherworld, or at least he hoped. They marched down the crystalline hall towards the glowy chamber before them. Like most of the castle, it had an erratic design. Pillars lined the outer edge of the ascending florescent chamber which was decorated with strange crosses and magic circles. The strangest and most foreboding thing about the chamber was that it was completely vacant.

"I guess no one's home after all," Etna shrugged.

"There's definitely someone here, I can feel it…" Laharl began to venture closer to the largest magic circle near the center of the chamber.

"Get back, Lord Laharl! There's a strange energy coming from the floor!" Ricon warned urgently.

Laharl felt it. An unfamiliar flow of energy was passing across the ground. Taking Ricon's advice, he stepped back just in time to see it begin to glow. A chain reaction of energy passed across the floor in a circular pattern. If Laharl had kept walking, he would have been within that circle. Once it had formed a complete circle, an explosion erupted from the center. Emerging from the smoke was a woman with red hair cropped to her shoulders, curved ram horns, red demon wings, a tight revealing costume, and a baton that she twirled in her hand. She looked like any other demon, but there was something different about her…

"You missed your welcoming gift, brat. Too bad." She smiled sinisterly at Laharl.

Laharl recognised the voice of the one who had laughed just before they had gotten sucked into the trap that separated them. He drew his black-bladed sword. "So, you're the one who set that trap for us. Not bad, I have to say, but enough's enough! Take me to the overlord right now, and maybe I'll go easy on your punishment."

"You're looking at her, kid." The woman smugly replied.

"Huh, you? **You're** the **overlord?**" Laharl blurted, unable to believe his ears. "But...you're a woman!"

"So? What's your point?" The female overlord scowled.

"Women can't be overlords...can they?" The naïve young overlord turned instinctively to his head vassal for an answer.

"Of **course** they can!" Etna erupted.

Laharl could feel the aura emanating from the red haired, baton wielding woman; she was indeed powerful. But there was something strange about her aura... "Okay, so you're the overlord of this dump. But, what are you?"

"What do you mean, **'what am I?'**" The female overlord blurted indignantly, waving her baton in fury. "I'm the beautiful and talented human maiden, Overlord Prier!"

"A human!" Laharl knew it had to be true. Despite appearances, her aura was not that of a demon. "But, such intense energy, you're not an ordinary human."

Etna recalled something. "Overlord Prier...I've heard about her. A human woman who became fascinated with the dark arts. They say that she wanders the netherworlds, searching for battle."

Laharl turned to Etna. "So, you're saying that's her?"

"No one's fought her and lived to tell about it..." Etna warned.

A grin of anticipation appeared on Laharl's face. "Hmhmhm...Good! I'll be the first, then!"

Overlord Prier swung her baton aggressively. "Just try it, brat overlord!"

"I will!" Accepting Prier's challenge, Laharl leapt recklessly ahead of the others.

"Wait, Lord Laharl! That is unwise!" Ricon called after him, but it was too late. As Etna and Ricon ran in pursuit, two figures appeared before them, blocking their path.

"Not so fast, nya," a fierce looking nekomata with red fur extended her claws.

"Lady Prier is busy right now, but we'll play with you instead," a succubus in black lace tossed back her jet black hair dangerously.

* * *

At the far end of the chamber, a battle of Overlord vs. Overlord had just commenced. Laharl's sword clashed against Prier's baton, which was surprisingly sturdy.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble, brat! Not to mention property damage!" Prier forced Laharl back a step. "I should have just fought you...**from the beginning!**" Prier took a swing, and barely missed Laharl's head.

Laharl thought he had an opening, but Prier blocked his follow-up immediately. "So, **why didn't you?**"

Prier matched Laharl's sword swings blow for blow. "I can't waste my time on...weaklings! I had to make sure...you were actually strong!" Both overlords were nearly oblivious to the fact that the force of their clashes were beginning to tear up the chamber floor.

Laharl leapt back, then took a great leap into the air as Prier swung and missed. Putting away his sword, he charged his demonic fire into his right fist, and began his descent. But as the space between them was closing, Laharl noticed something about his opponent that made all the colour drain from his face.

"**No you don't!**" Prier hurled her spinning baton upwards, connecting with Laharl's forehead. The force behind the blow was remarkable, and it knocked the blue-haired young overlord to the far end of the chamber.

Laharl landed in a crouched position, his head in a daze. It was more than the baton's impact he was recovering from..._Tight costume...Big breasts..._

"What's the matter, kid? Can't take a hit?" Overlord Prier advanced towards Laharl.

"S-stay away from me!" Laharl swung out his sword in warning, trying not to look directly at her.

Prier smirked, "Okay, if that's how you want to play…" The part-human overlord clasped her hands together in what looked like a prayer.

_What the hell is she doing? What kind of overlord prays?_ Laharl thought in bafflement. He didn't feel it until it was too late; that same strange energy flowing across the ground. Before he could leap out of the way, the energy flow had formed a circle around him, and immediately erupted with power. A yell of pain escaped the child overlord's mouth as the surge of energy seared him from all sides.

* * *

Back at the lower end of the chamber, Etna heard Laharl's cry, but was currently engaged in a battle of her own. Cari the succubus, one of Overlord Prier's head vassals, had her whip entwined with Longinus. "You're not going anywhere, hon."

Etna struggled to pull the succubus off balance, but she had a firm stance, and was pretty strong to boot. But Etna had a good hunch what her weakness was..."Yeah, kinda hard...considering how **wide** you are."

"**What?**" Cari instinctively glanced down at herself to confirm she was not golem-sized. This gave Etna the opening she needed.

"Gotcha." Etna tugged on her spear just as the succubus' attention wavered, causing Cari to be pulled forward. Etna followed up the motion with a thrust forward, attempting to stab the unbalanced succubus. Cari swayed into a recovery sidestep, but was nicked by one of Longinus' prongs in the process. A red scrape was now upon her side.

"How **dare** you, you...**flat-chested** **brat!**" Cari screamed, examining her formerly perfect complexion.

"What...did you call me?" Etna's voice held an ominous flat tone. The young demoness' aura seemed to flare up a little. "You're **so** going to get it!" Etna lunged at Cari with newfound vigour.

* * *

At the east end of the room, Ricon was battling the nekomata, Kitari. They had both exchanged fierce attacks, but their fight was just getting heated up. There were a few bruises on the nekomata's midsection, and the shinobi wore several scratches on his face and arms that were beginning to bleed. Their breathing was faintly audible over the noise of the other battles within the crystalline chamber.

"_Haah_...not bad, nya. This is starting to get fun." Kitari panted with a grin.

Ricon said nothing. He held up his right hand close to his face, two fingers pointed up in a ninjutsu hand sign. _Ninpo..._

Kitari noticed her opponent's stillness. "Hey, don't just stand there, keep fighting me, nya!" It took very little time for the nekomata to get impatient. She pounced toward the still shinobi, claws ready to strike. Just before Kitari landed her attack, she realised the ninja was up to something. He was very close to being shredded, and still hadn't moved an inch! Kitari's claws swiped right through the image of the shinobi, causing it to quickly vanish in a blurry haze. Standing just inches behind the false image, Ricon stood in a counter attack position. _No you don't, nya. _In the blink of an eye, Kitari swiftly spun into a rising kick. _Too bad, nya. I'm too fast for your ninja magic._ But just as she thought this, she received a forceful blow to the side of the head. The nekomata tumbled across the florescent floor. The second image had also been fake!

Ricon had studied her fighting level through their first exchange of blows, and decided he would need two copy images before he had an opening. He had hidden himself in the shadows using advanced ninjutsu until the nekomata struck twice, then delivered a direct hit with a leaping kick. His plan had succeeded, but...

Kitari rose from the cold chamber floor, a large bruise on her right cheek. She faced the ninja master with fiery eyes. "You...Are gonna get it...Nya!"

* * *

The eruption of energy had dissipated, revealing Laharl, slumped down on one knee. He was seared all over from the attack, but they were only surface wounds.

"Are you done, brat? You sure look 'done'. Beg for forgiveness now, and I might let you squirm away back to your own netherworld." Overlord Prier smirked in satisfaction, but it quickly faded when Laharl abruptly rose to his feet.

"From a weak attack like that? Don't make me laugh." He raised his arms, summoning his demonic power. Balls of hellfire formed everywhere. There was nowhere for the red-haired maiden to run. All Prier could do was brace for impact as they closed in all around her. The explosion shook the chamber like never before, a few pillars even cracked and crumbled under the pressure. Laharl stood by, watching the smoke billow up. He felt briefly satisfied, but the feeling quickly vanished. He could still feel his opponent's aura within the dust cloud. He also felt another surge of energy travel his way, and leapt to the side to avoid another eruption from the floor.

Prier emerged from the smoke caused by Laharl's Overlord's Wrath, looking just as singed as the young overlord. "That was quite a flashy attack, brat. Not bad..."

"Look who's talking!" scoffed Laharl. "You're the one controlling those flashy energy eruptions. It's some kind of chain reaction, right? Like geo panels blowing up?"

"So, you figured it out, huh?" Prier had her hands on her hips. "Though, I don't know what you're going on about 'geo panels'. This is a technique I call 'Requiem Aeternam' that is activated by 'purifying' the dark energies flowing around in the netherworld, something only a human maiden like myself can do. If the energy loops back into itself, the purification causes a chain reaction. And since I've learned how to control the flow of the dark energies, I can activate a chain reaction wherever I want! So there's nowhere for you to run!"

Laharl smirked. "Well, aren't you a proper villain, explaining your attack to the enemy..."

"**Shut up!** **You're** the villain **here!**" With her last word, Prier whipped out her baton and hurtled it at Laharl.

"And don't you forget it!" Laharl drew his sword and back flipped into the air as Prier's baton whizzed under him. Just as Laharl drew his sword back to unleash a Dimension Slash, he quickly discovered there were now almost twelve spinning batons heading straight for him! _Where did those come from? Oh well, a good offence is the best defence._ The young overlord unleashed his Dimension Slash, destroying the whirling projectiles before him. But at that instant, he felt someone whizz behind him, and knew it was the rival overlord getting ready for a counterattack. He ducked away as Prier swung her one true baton and barely missed. _Ugh! She's too close!..._ Laharl tried not to look directly at his busty opponent as she began a fierce series of baton swings. He blocked two blows, then swayed away from the next, getting ready for a counter, when his eyes involuntarily locked onto Prier's ample cleavage. His mind went blank as he soared through the air, only vaguely aware of the uppercut he had just received. Prier leapt up after him and knocked him back down with a flip kick. Laharl crashed onto the chamber floor, leaving a good-sized crater where he lay, head throbbing. He couldn't shake the image of Prier's protruding bust from his mind. _Dammit...Why did she have to have that sexy body?...And in such a revealing costume? That's cheating! All she needs to do now is start spouting about love and kindness, and I'm done for!..._

Laharl snapped to his senses just in time to register the feeling of demonic energy wrapping around him. He leapt back to avoid another Requiem Aeternam that converged on the crater he had been lying. Through the haze of pain, Laharl saw his opponent advance towards him once again, baton brandished. _This is ridiculous! I can't be losing!...I'm an overlord! Well, sure, she's an overlord too, but...Grrr, I need a plan..._

Laharl leapt over Prier just as she got within his 'too close for comfort' zone. Prier whirled around to find the demon child missing. _What is up with this brat? Why won't he fight me head on? Is he just a wimp, or...?_ The former human maiden suddenly spotted her opponent, but it was a second too late. He was in the air descending towards her, sword glowing with power. His eyes were closed!

Another section of the chamber's floor was rent apart as the child overlord's Winged Slayer attack connected. Prier, unable to block in time, was sent flying back. She crashed through a crystal pillar before landing on her feet a good twenty meters away, bruised and panting. Sections of stone from the ceiling began to crumble and fall, but the chamber still remained structurally intact. "You're...starting to get on my nerves, brat!" Prier used the falling rubble as projectiles, batting them towards Laharl with her baton. Laharl dodged and cut his way through them, only to find Prier once again closing in on him. He jumped back as her baton impacted the floor, creating a rather large crack in the stonework. Laharl countered with a ball of hellfire, but Prier batted it aside. Returning to the ground, Laharl began charging energy for another Dimension Slash, but Prier appeared inches from him. "Time for the **Coup de Grace!**" she shouted, boot swinging forth.

Thankfully for Laharl, he managed to escape Overlord Prier's deadliest of techniques, leaping over her and landing near the fallen rubble from the ceiling, before the boot could connect. "For a 'human maiden', you sure know how to fight dirty!" scolded Laharl. "Using that sexy body of yours to distract me, then trying to kick me in the-"

"Oh? Is **that** why you keep running away from me?" Prier grinned, "I thought you were just being a wimp." The busty beauty examined her curvy form with pride. Her outfit was slightly tattered and torn in places, but otherwise intact. If anything, the effect worked in her favour. "I guess I can't blame you, though," she began strutting towards Laharl, hips swaying. "It must be tough, being a guy..."

"S-stay away!" Laharl promptly looked away. Big mistake. The next thing he felt was an upward knee to the gut. The force was like an explosion in his ribs. The young overlord let out a winded gasp. He was vaguely aware he had dropped his sword, and was soaring through the air. He collided with the ceiling, flying through as if it had been made of paper.

"That was for all those walls you destroyed in my palace!" Overlord Prier called after him. "Oh, and for my soldiers, too!" she added as an afterthought. After noting with irony that the ceiling damage she had caused would be the most expensive fix, Prier glanced to the other end of the chamber where her vassals had been fighting Laharl's followers. Cari the succubus was down, bearing many bruises, cuts, and words like 'ugly' and 'wide load' scrawled all over her body in permanent black marker. At the other end, Kitari the nekomata was unconscious with a rather large lump on her head. Etna and Ricon were both seated on the stone debris bearing some nasty scrapes and bruises of their own. Though they had won their own separate battles, they were in no condition to face Prier in their overlord's place. Prier was about to suggest they surrender, when she felt something from above. _The brat's coming back down? What a die-hard. One more punch to the face should be enough..._ But she felt something else...something massive...

"**Haaaaahahahahahaaa!**"

Bursting through the ceiling came a huge, red meteorite. Riding on top, was a certain blue-haired overlord, arms crossed, laughing triumphantly as his scarf billowed above him. There was no escape.

An ear-splitting crash reverberated throughout the entire castle. Many chambers shook with the force of the impact, startling the guards, and toppling over statues and wall ornaments. Overlord Prier's chamber was now in ruins, a huge gaping hole in the ceiling above where two large crescent moons hung in the hazy sky. Rubble and meteor fragments littered the once gleaming floor. Etna and Ricon gingerly peered over their shelter of fallen pillars to behold the outcome of the collision. Atop the largest heap of debris was Lord Laharl. Bruised, bleeding, and bearing a victorious grin.

* * *

_Part 9 -Fin_


	10. The Aftermath

_**KappeZ:** I'm baaa-aaaack! Is anyone else amazed?_

**Prinny:** *raises wing*

**_KappeZ:_**_ Besides you! Anyway, thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! Because of you, I've resolved to give this fanfic more attention, since I am far ahead in 'Blood of the Overlord'..._

**Prinny:** Here comes the shameless plug, dood...

**_KappeZ:_**_ Actually, I think I'll keep that part secret...for now, heheh. Anyway, the story continues..._

* * *

Overlord Prier awoke on a bed of soft cushions, sore all over, and with one behemoth of a headache. As her vision came partly into focus, she noticed she was in her castle's infirmary, judging by the white curtain hangings and other nearby beds. Standing over her was Nichol, the castle healer.

"How do you feel, Lady Prier?" he asked calmly, his blonde head but a yellowish blur in Prier's vision.

"Like hell...No, make that several hells put together." Prier rubbed her aching head, attempting to blink the world around her back into focus.

"I've healed you as best I can, now all you need is to rest for a while until you recover your strength," Nichol informed her mildly.

"What the hell happened, anyway?" Prier murmured in a lazy confusion.

"You had taken severe damage from your battle against Overlord Laharl, and you were knocked unconscious from his last attack," Nichol informed.

"Oh, I see..." Prier mumbled peacefully. "**WHAT!**" She shot up from bed, which was a bad idea, because the movement immediately triggered pain from every bruise on her body, causing her to yell and curse quite loudly.

"Oh, my!" came an affronted, high-pitched voice.

"Come on, Flonne. You've lived in the netherworld _how_ long, and loud swearing still gets to you?" came a more sarcastic female voice.

"Who else is here?" Prier gingerly rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again, what she saw caused her to jolt back in surprise, resulting in another round of pain. The infirmary was full of demons, and not just her vassals and soldiers. Overlord Laharl's forces also occupied the beds around her. "W-what the hell are **you all doing here?**" Prier blurted, thrusting an accusatory finger at each of them in quick succession.

"What does it look like?" spoke Laharl, who was reclined in his bed, supported by a vast amount of pillows. He was bandaged all over, but grinned contently, leaning with his arms behind his head. "To the victor go the spoils; including free medical treatment."

"Who says you've won, brat?" Prier, teeth clenched, moved to get up, but once again recoiled in pain.

"Take it easy, My Lady," Nichol pleaded.

"Yes, please don't fight anymore!" fallen angel Flonne rose from a seat beside Laharl's bed, and stood between them, only to wobble on the spot, and be supported by Nichol.

"You should be resting too, Flonne," Etna said offhand, also reclined in a nearby bed. "You used up all your energy trying to heal us all."

"She even tended to my wounds," boomed the massive form of Reigash, who lay in a large bedding of cushions in the corner of the infirmary designed for larger patients. The Dragon Guard leader was also bandaged up, and he was gazing over with an ironic smile. "A foolish thing to do for an enemy."

"Indeed," spoke Xavia, who was two cots down to the left of Laharl's. Her burns were almost fully healed, and the large scratch upon her chest was no longer visible beneath her bandages. Her serrated sword, Bushin-Hahakiri, lay next to her cot within arm's reach.

"I couldn't just leave him to bleed to death!" protested Flonne with a squeak, who was now seated in the vacant cot on the other side of Laharl.

"Love-freak," Laharl muttered.

"_Mnaa_, just...one more éclair..." Nikka murmured in her sleep, drooling slightly on her pillow.

"_Nyaa,_ fight me..._zzz'more..._" snored Kitari in the cot next to her.

"Tickles...Burns...same time..._noooooo..."_ the masked manticore moaned, tossing and turning.

Overlord Prier took all this in with a look of incredulity.

"Uh, My Lady, your...mouth is hanging open," Nichol informed her quietly.

"Hey, does this netherworld have TVs? I'm getting bored," announced Laharl.

"_Rrrgh_, **that's it! Where's my baton?**" Prier demanded, head whipping around in search of her weapon of choice. This did nothing to lessen her headache.

"A team of skeletons is still searching the wreckage for it," Nichol informed.

"Hey, keep it down, you big-boobed bimbo!" Laharl taunted.

"**You** stick a sock in it, Shorty Short-shorts!" Prier retorted.

The two overlords, unable to physically fight each other, resorted to exchanges of verbal abuse for a good hour. This kept most of the infirmary occupants entertained, although Flonne still cringed when particularly foul language spewed from either mouth. When both parties ran out of energy and creative insults, there was nothing for them to do but rest and recover. Aided by Nichol's healing expertise, everyone's wounds and fatigue were a memory within a day. Before they knew it, they were all seated at three long tables in the castle hall, two floors down from the ruined overlord's chamber. The broken evidence from the battle above had been cleaned up, though as a result the room was rather barren, adorned with only a few ornamental metalwork wall pieces, and barren chains hanging from the ceiling that once held up crystal chandeliers. Firecrystals in torch-stands upon the tables illuminated the room and it's occupants, who where now talking rather than fighting.

"So, let me get this straight, you're **not** invaders?" Overlord Prier questioned, leaning forward on her seat at one end of the center table.

"Why would I want to take over this dump?" Laharl rebuffed, seated at the opposite end. _Though the thought did cross my mind at first…_ "I just wanted to know what was on the other side of this old mysterious gate we found in our netherworld. Turns out, it was this boring world. How anti-climactic," Laharl shrugged in a disappointed fashion.

"**HEY!** Watch what you say about another person's netherworld!" Prier half-stood, glaring down the table at the child overlord.

"What we really wanna know, is why there was a gate created to join the two netherworlds in the first place," said Etna, who was enjoying the comfort of a big red armchair to Laharl's left.

"Beats me," Prier said simply, her temper receding. "I only took over as overlord here about a hundred years ago."

"So, um, Lady Prier?" Flonne spoke timidly. "Why did you stop wandering the netherworlds, and decide to become an overlord?"

"Good question," Prier's brow lowered in ponder, as if recalling a detail long forgotten. "I guess I was getting bored of defeating overlords, and wanted to see what it was like to _be_ one. Y'know, settle down for a bit."

"I recall the day Lady Prier arrived to challenge the previous overlord," Nichol spoke, who was serving tea to everyone. "She defeated him with one hit."

"It didn't happen to be that 'Coup De Grace' technique, did it?" Etna wondered, having used a similar technique in her life that was very effective against male targets.

"So _no one_ here knows why there's two portals linking our two worlds?" Laharl changed the subject.

"I have a theory," boomed Reigash, looming over the table at Prier's right, along with his two subordinates from the Dragon Guard. The Guard's leader cleared his throat loudly, and began. "I have lived long enough to witness many inter-netherworld wars. Most of them were petty squabbles over territory and possessions, and usually ended as quickly as they began. Sometimes, the warring was simply because of a disagreement, or boredom, or simply nothing at all." With a grin, Reigash nodded significantly to the table at large. "But there was a time when a terrible new power appeared, and began to dominate the netherworlds. This goes beyond a simple dispute. Whatever this force was, or is, it had left a trail of broken netherworlds in its path. Even some of the strongest known overlords were never heard from again after an encounter with this destructive force. Some overlords swallowed their pride, and sought the aid of other overlords in order to unite against this terrible power. Perhaps to form such an alliance long ago was the reason for the creation of this gate connecting your world to ours."

"So...you're saying that one of the overlords before me built this gate because he was a wimp who was too weak to fight this powerful...thing?" Laharl scoffed.

Reigash patiently closed his eyes. "It wasn't just him. As I said, no one who went to fight the terrible power was ever seen again. An alliance between overlords would have been the only wise course of action."

"But, wait, where is this 'terrible power' now?" Etna asked, accepting a cup of tea from Nichol.

"I do not know," Reigash replied. "Its attacks on netherworlds stopped many centuries ago."

"Hey Reigash, are you sure this 'terrible power' isn't me?" Overlord Prier smirked to her vassal.

The dragon guard leader let out a bellowing laugh. "Indeed, you would fit the description almost perfectly, My Lady. However, this power, be it one being or an army, wiped out everything it came into contact with, while you merely **defeated** whatever foe you chose to face."

"'**Merely**' defeated? I kicked their asses from here to the next netherworld!" Prier retorted indignantly.

"Facts aside, this force was bent on destruction, with a power surpassing any overlord. But what became of it, weather it was defeated, or if it simply moved to a new realm beyond our noticing, is unknown."

"How do you know this...whatever it is...existed at all?" Etna sceptically inclined on her elbow. "You said yourself that anything that came into contact with it was never seen again."

"I've felt it, just once. It has a terrible, dark aura. Darker than any overlord. You can't help but notice it. I had heard the stories of those who fled when they felt it, only to return and find their netherworld in ruins. I must admit, I did the same. To this day I still think myself a coward for running away, but a coward who survived. With my netherworld in ruins, I had no choice but to wander, along with my fellows." Reigash indicated his two subordinates, who gazed gravely in recollection of that time. "We eventually became the overlord's guard in this netherworld. By that time, the destruction had long halted, and no one had felt the dark aura since."

"Because the overlords banded together, right?" fallen angel Flonne's eyes began to light up. "They united against the evil thing, and defeated it together using the power of love!"

Laharl made a gagging sound, as if he had just choked on an exceptionally large tea leaf. "D-dummy! Overlords don't_ band together_ and use the '_power of love_'!"

"But Laharl! Mr. Reigash said it was the only way to defeat the terrible evil!" Flonne countered defensively.

"Whatever, I don't believe a word of this." The young overlord crossed his arms in an even haughtier way than usual. "This '_terrible power'_ just sounds made-up to me. It was probably just some overlord who liked to pick on weak netherworlds, then got himself killed by a stronger overlord."

Reigash's subordinates growled in protest at Laharl's disrespect, but Reigash merely inclined his head. "Believe what you will, young overlord, but I know what I saw, and what I felt. And I can tell you; the netherworld in which we formerly lived was not a weak one. We had won many wars, and even thought ourselves invincible at a time. Not unlike yourself, I would imagine." The dragon grinned down at Laharl.

"Ha! In case you haven't noticed, I beat you, **and** your overlord!" Laharl grinned back.

"You **did not!**" Prier rose higher in her seat, shoulders arched in indignance. "It was a **draw!"**

"What part of **me**, standing on top of a pile of rubble with **your** lifeless body below it, makes it a draw?" Both overlords had risen to their feet, ready to draw their weapons.

"Please, no more fighting!" pleaded Flonne, also rising.

"Yes, I agree," Nichol supplied firmly. "I do not have the energy to heal you both a second time."

Laharl and Prier slowly returned to their seats, muttering insults under their breath.

"Hey, where's Cari, nya? Still recovering?" Kitari wondered, noticing the empty seat beside her, and began glancing around for the succubus.

"She is physically well, though the injuries to her pride will take longer to mend," Nichol responded gravely.

"Still can't wash off the permanent marker?" Etna mused with a pitiless grin.

Kitari and Nichol both made a mental note to never piss off the red-headed demon girl.

"So," Prier spoke up, "in any case, you found out what you needed to find out, right? Hurry up and go back to your own netherworld."

"Not a bad idea," retorted Laharl. "I was getting bored of this dump anyway."

"Stop calling **my netherworld** a **dump, antenna-head!**"

"I'll say whatever I want, **thunder-thighs!**"

After another barrage of verbal abuse subsided, Laharl and his company agreed it was time they returned to their own netherworld. Everyone gathered at an open platform outside the castle, veiled in a cloudy sky with mountains serrating the horizon. Laharl placed down the gate beacon given to them from Zaeon onto the stone floor. It was a crystal not unlike a geo symbol, that glowed seconds after Laharl touched the tip, infusing it with a tiny portion of aura. When seconds pass, and nothing happened, Laharl began tapping his foot impatiently.

"What's taking so long? Zaeon sure is taking her sweet time opening that portal." Laharl knew the royal attendant had the beacon receiver, which was like a smaller version of the beacon crystal that picked up the signal of the activated beacon. The receiver glowed in response, alerting Zaeon that the becon was active, which she then used to pinpoint their location and open a portal to their end.

"There must be a delay due to the distance between netherworlds," Ricon pointed out, recalling the difficulty the royal attendant first had establishing a portal to this world.

Sure enough, the portal eventually appeared, forming right behind the beacon crystal. In the interdimensional haze was the image of the jagged rocky landscape surrounding Blackness Peak on the other side. Overlord Laharl and his company bid farewell to their new….well, it would be a stretch to call them friends, but at least they were no longer enemies.

"Hey, waitaminuite! I never got to visit 'Alternate Nethermart'!" Nikka exclaimed, but she had already been pushed through the portal by Jeryk the engineer, who returned the beacon crystal to his backpack before saluting to their 'hosts' and following the mage through.

"Well, see ya." Etna waved nonchalantly before following her two vassals.

"Thanks for everything!" Flonne waved with more enthusiasm. "Maybe we could come back to visit sometime!"

"Yeah, that would be real peachy," Prier muttered under her breath as the fallen angel vanished.

"Hey, Ninja!" Kitari called to Ricon, who was about to depart next. "Fight me again next time! I won't lose again, nya!"

_I'd rather not,_ the shinobi thought, but gave a two-fingered wave before departing. Xavia silently followed him.

Laharl glanced back to face Prier. "Well, it was kinda fun to fight someone challenging for the first time in a while. Anyway, later." Laharl trailed the rest of his vassals into the swirling void.

"Ah! Hey, **wait!**" Prier suddenly called out, but it was too late; Laharl was gone, and the portal had vanished.

"What is it, My Lady?" Nichol asked his overlord.

Prier gritted her teeth. "I forgot to give him the bill for all the damage he did to the castle!"

* * *

Laharl's company emerged on the familiar cliffside of Blackness Peak, back in their own netherworld at last. The sky was swirling with grey clouds, just as dreary as they left it. There to greet them was Zaeon, the royal attendant, who looked dishevelled, but relieved. "Lord Laharl, I'm glad you're back."

"What's up, Zaeon? Where's everyone else?" Laharl glanced around, noticing all the tents but Zaeon's were gone, and not a single member from the dimensional gate repair team was present.

Zaeon absently fiddled with an out-of-place curl of her golden hair. "Since their work was done, they returned to the castle shortly after you left."

Laharl rolled his eyes. "Slackers. They could've at least stayed behind to make sure the gate stayed in one piece."

"Shouldn't they have sent ya a group of guards or somethin' to defend ya?" Jeryk scratched his head. "This place isn't exactly friendly, ya know."

Zaeon glanced back aimlessly off into the distance. "That's what's odd. You see, I tried to send a beacon back to the castle yesterday, but there was no response."

It was Etna's turn to scratch her head. "That **is** odd. It's not like the castle gatekeeper to be slacking off…"

"_Waaaaait_, how can the castle gatekeeper open up a gate here, if we couldn't gate here to begin with when we first left the castle?" Nikka demanded.

Jeryk sighed at the mage's ignorance. "When we first came here, we didn't know the precise location of this platform, so we appeared at the bottom of the mountain. But now that we're here, we can use a beacon to help the gatekeeper locate us. It's common sense, dummy!" Jeryk prodded Nikka in the forehead.

"I-I knew that, doofus!" Nikka rubbed her head, plotting how strong an ice spell she would need to cast to seal his mouth shut.

"Anyway, let's try the beacon now." Laharl activated the beacon that connected to the castle. Minutes passed, but no portal formed. "_Grrr_, what gives? Did she lose her receiver or something?"

"Couldn't we use this gate to go back?" Flonne pointed to the huge dimensional gate they had emerged from.

Zaeon shook her head. "No. It's an old gate designed to go to one specific destination; in this case, the alternate netherworld. We can't use it to travel anywhere else."

"Just _great!_" Laharl fumed, beginning to pace around. "Does this mean we're stuck here?"

"Lord Laharl!" Xavia drew her sword and turned to their left. "A large group of demons are coming..."

As the sword master had sensed, a large group of winged demons rounded the mountain's edge, pursuing a short figure wearing baggy clothes, who was dashing away from them at top speed.

"Hey, isn't that Lyle?" Nikka asked conversationally.

"Yeah, it is!" Etna recognized her thief with mild surprise. "Wonder what he's doing here? It would take a mountain of treasure for him to go anywhere **this** dangerous. And from what I've seen, this is one treasureless mountain."

"Shouldn't we help him?" squeaked Flonne, staff ready.

"I guess we could. Not like we have anything better to do." Etna shrugged, and casually drew Longinus.

Flonne's wind spell was the first thing to connect, blowing away a good portion of the winged demons pursuing the hapless thief. Nikka joined in with an ice spell, freezing even more of them, though almost hitting Lyle in the process. Jeryk finished all but one with a well-placed Totenkreuz, the fiery cross crumbling away part of the platform on impact. The last remaining demon bit the back of Lyle's head, latching itself on, causing the thief to scream and panic until Etna appeared to swat it away with Longinus. Lyle let out a gasp of relief, and collapsed upon the cold, rocky ground.

"Are you okay?" Flonne rushed over to examine the thief for injuries, thankfully finding none other than the bite marks on his head.

Lyle lay panting and wheezing on the ground, trying to catch his breath.

"What's up with him? Did he run all the way up here?" Laharl glanced disinterestedly at Etna's vassal.

"C-castle..." Lyle gasped hoarsely.

"Hmm? What about the castle?" Etna peered over.

Lyle gulped for breath. "The castle's...under attack!"

* * *

_To be continued..._


	11. Dimensionally Challenged?

"The castle's under attack?" Laharl echoed. "Who would be dumb enough to attack the castle?"

"There was...four of them," Lyle wheezed, still breathless from his flight up the mountain.

"Just four? What's the big deal about that?" Laharl scoffed, his scarf blowing irritably in the high-altitude winds of Blackness Peak. "Just let the guards deal with them."

"They're...really strong..." the thief gasped between breaths. "Made it all the way...to the upper floors...Only got away...'cause they were fightin' the other vassals..."

Laharl gazed in disbelief, taking in the news. _His_ castle had been overrun by a mere group of _four_ demons.

"That's terrible!" Flonne squeaked. "I hope everyone's alright."

"That must be why we can't gate back to the castle," Etna stated, brushing a lock of red hair from her eye. "What a pain. I was looking forward to a nice hot bath."

"Me too!" Nikka whined, stroking her own blue hair away from her face in mimicry of her mistress.

"Do you guys not realize how serious this is?" Laharl grit his teeth. "We're **stuck** here on this **stupid mountain** while **my** castle is being **taken over! GRRAAAHH!**" In a fit of frustration, the young overlord whipped a ball of hellfire down the mountainside, which exploded, causing the platform to quake slightly.

"Take it easy, Prince! You don't want to bring down the whole mountain while we're still on it!" Etna scorned.

"Do **you** have any bright ideas, Etna?" Laharl spat, scowling back at his head vassal.

"We could, um, climb down?" Flonne piped up.

"And** then what?**" Laharl rounded on the fallen angel. "We're still Hades knows how far away from the castle, not to mention we don't even know which direction to go in!"

"Got..." Lyle the thief breathed, still sprawled on the ground.

"Got what? Now isn't the time for treasure!"

"...This." He pulled out a beacon crystal from his bag.

"We already tried that, **genius!**" Laharl bonked the thief on the head a little harder than intended, knocking him out.

"Laharl! Don't be so mean to him!" Flonne protested, running over to patch up the big lump now crowning Lyle's head. She then examined the beacon crystal he had pulled out. "This one looks different from ours. Does it lead somewhere else?"

"It will lead to a different beacon receiver at least." Zaeon said, gazing dreamily at the yellow beacon crystal.

"Oi, Lyle, where does this lead?" Jeryk asked the thief, but he was still unconscious, and did not reply.

"Nice going, Prince," Etna chided, brushing hair from her eyes once again as the mountain winds picked up. "Way to knock out our only source of info from the castle."

"Who cares? Let's just use that beacon." Laharl snatched up the crystal from Flonne, and placed it on the rocky ground.

"Wait, Lord Laharl. We do not know where it will lead, or who might be waiting on the other end." Ricon warned, his scarf also blowing in the wind.

"Anything's better than sitting around here." Laharl infused the beacon with a small drop of aura, causing it to glow amber. Minutes passed…Patience waned…

"Dammit!" Laharl stomped the ground, causing another mini-earthquake. "Another useless beacon!" The young overlord managed to control himself enough to not kick the crystal over the cliff's edge, and resorted to storming about, muttering in frustration.

"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do but climb down," Etna said with an air of dismay.

"That might be difficult..." Xavia pointed to the mountain trail leading down from the platform...or at least where it used to be. The entire section had crumbled away, leaving a gaping chasm in the mountainside, with no visible paths or footholds in sight. Even Ricon would have a difficult time traversing that gap. Many of the overlord's company gazed open-mouthed at the destroyed platform. Char marks across the cracked stone indicated it had been the work of Jeryk's Totenkreuz, though Laharl's earlier outburst likely had loosed the rocks beforehand.

"Good going, _Stuuuupid!_" Nikka relished her jab at the scout.

For once, Jeryk had no comeback. He simply gawked at their misfortune.

"Sooooo," Etna slowly drawled, "Who's gonna break it to the Prince that we're pretty much screwed?" For Laharl was still stomping about, unaware that their last option to leave Blackness Peak had crumbled away.

"I nominate the screw-up!" Nikka practically sang, enjoying the situation far more than she should.

"Umm," Flonne murmured, but no one heard her.

"Jeryk, do you have more rope?" Ricon enquired, recalling the time they needed to cross a large gap when climbing up the mountain.

"Nothing _that_ long..." Jeryk still gaped at the chasm.

"You've doomed us all, King of Idiots!" Nikka sang, curtseying for effect.

"Just **drop it** already!" Jeryk finally retorted, putting Nikka in a headlock.

"Umm," Flonne spoke up, but was still left unheeded.

"What's all the racket?" Laharl rounded on them, his face clearly showing his mood had not improved.

Jeryk and Nikka were now scuffling; Jeryk still holding the mage in a headlock and giving her nuggies, while Nikka was biting the scout's arm and kicking out in an attempt to replicate one of Overlord Prier's techniques.

"Calm down, you two," Etna suggested passively, the maximum effort she usually exerted in keeping her vassals in order.

"**PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEE!"** The screech rent through the mountain air. Everyone, including Laharl, turned to gape in awe at the source of the outburst. Flonne turned bright red, and feebly lifted a finger toward the beacon crystal, which now had a swirling portal right behind it. They quickly became aware that the portal was slowly closing, and at once, everyone made a beeline for it.

"Get off me! I saw it first!" Nikka, still in Jeryk's headlock, tried to push him aside. The two were suddenly shoved through by Etna, who quickly followed. Laharl was right behind them, trailed by Ricon and Xavia. Flonne and Zaeon barely made it through, carrying Lyle's nearly-forgotten limp body, as the portal collapsed.

* * *

"Owowow! Watch where you're shoving your foot!" Laharl grunted, trying to pry himself free from the tangle of bodies he had suddenly found himself in the midst of.

"Sorry Laharl," Flonne attempted to move without treading on someone else, but...

"OUCH! That was my tail!" Etna yelped.

"You're all heavy! Get _oooooooff!_" Nikka's muffled moan escaped from the bottom of the demon-pile.

"Y'know Nikka, if you're gonna give me this kinda view, ya coulda've at least worn sexier panties." A certain scout remarked.

"HEY! Stop looking, you **perv!**" the mage thrashed out as best she could in the hopes of kicking Jeryk, but her flailing stockinged legs only managed to connect with a still-unconscious Lyle, dislodging him from the stack, and causing him to roll to the floor.

"Ricon! A little help here?" Laharl barked, noticing the shinobi had avoided the pileup, and was standing aside the pile of demons with the shadow of an amused smirk betraying his otherwise calm face.

"Certainly." Starting with Zaeon, Ricon began removing each person in the stack from the top down, assisted by Xavia, who had also managed to avoid becoming one with the pile.

Once everyone was on their feet again (except Lyle), Laharl's company noticed their surroundings for the first time. They were in a large room surrounded with shelves holding various objects from old books, to bottles of strange liquid, to strange musical instruments. A pole rack with a wide variety of odd-looking hats had been knocked over during the commotion. Two thick glass windows filled the wooden-floored room with white light. An open dresser filled with various old robes sat perpendicular to the door-sized dimensional gate the party had passed through, which now revealed nothing but the wood-boarded wall behind it. Just as Laharl was about to ask where the hell they were, a voice from the opposite end of the room caught his ear.

"Dammit, Pikk! What did I tell you about-" A young adult humanoid demon with unruly green hair entered the room from a door opposite the gate. Upon laying eyes on Laharl and his company, the demon froze in place. "Who...'re you guys?"

"Oh, hello! Sorry for intruding," Flonne spoke up. "We're-"

"I'm Laharl, your overlord. Where are we?" the young demon king cut in.

"Overlord...Laharl?..." The green-haired demon continued to gape, pulling out a pair of glasses and putting them on. "Antenna-style blue hair...red scarf...shorts...arms crossed arrogantly...Yeah, no joke! You're really Overlord Laharl!"

Laharl's eyebrow twitched. "No _duh_ I'm me, now answer my question!"

"Laharl, don't be so rude!" Flonne scolded. "We just appeared in this person's house, we should be more courteous to him."

"Him?" The glasses-wearing demon echoed, looking slightly crestfallen.

"Flonne," Laharl exasperatedly turned to the fallen angel. "How long is it going to take before it sinks in? Demons don't have manners! Especially not the overlord!"

"Well, it was because of this man's dimensional gate that we were able to escape Blackness Peak," Zaeon pointed out mildly. "So it wouldn't be out of the question for us to show him a little bit of gratitude."

"'_This man's_'...?" The demon in the doorway looked even more stung.

"You too, Zaeon?" Laharl sighed. "Just because this guy has-"

"I'm A GIRL!" the apparently female demon blurted out. The room at large stared at her as an awkward silence fell.

"...Really?" Jeryk stepped closer for an inspection. She was wearing woolly slippers, biker shorts, and a large sweater that shrouded her frame. "Ah, I see. That sweater makes your shoulders look wide, plus ya have short hair, that's why ya look like a guy," the scout appraised. "Ya should wear somethin' that shows off your curves more."

"_Excuse_ me! I wasn't exactly expecting company to materialize in my store room today!" The female demon looked ready to reach out and throw something, but a staff with black bat wings did the honours instead, whacking Jeryk upside the head.

"That's enough outta you, perv!" Nikka scorned, dragging the scout back by the ear.

"Tet looks like a guy! Tet looks like a guy! _Keeheehee!_" cackled a high, mischievous voice from somewhere behind the tomboyish demon.

"Shut up, Pikk!" She turned to kick at a spot behind the doorway, but as she did so, a small faerie landed on her shoulder. He peered at Laharl's company with curious beady eyes. "There's a lotta 'em! We gonna have a party?"

"No parties!" The green-haired demon shook off the faerie, who landed easily and scurried to the top of a tall lamp to get a better view of the newcomers. The girl adjusted her glasses in an attempt to regain composure. "Anyway, I definitely wasn't expecting the overlord and his soldiers to come to my shop! Did my cousin send you here?"

"Your cousin?" Flonne asked.

"Oh, didn't she tell you? My cousin is Rouge, the dimensional gatekeeper at the overlord's castle. I'm Tetra, and I run this shop, though we're closed today."

"Oh yeah, Rouge. She must've given Lyle that beacon." Etna glanced back to the still unconscious thief, who was lying face-down on the floor, drool oozing out of the side of his mouth onto the dark hardwood planking.

"The situation is complicated, miss Tetra" Zaeon spoke. "To put it simply, we've been stranded outside the castle. This was the only place we could go. It was likely your cousin who sent us the beacon leading here, thinking you could help us."

"The Overlord can't get back into his own castle? That's heavy stuff!" Pikk the faerie exclaimed, lying forward on the lampshade he was perched on.

"Pikk! Quiet down!" Tetra scolded.

"One thing puzzles me," Zaeon continued. "No one was present in the room when we arrived, so who opened the portal for us?"

"What do you mean? Nirros is right there-" Tetra pointed to the closet of robes, "and he's the only one of us who knows how to operate it."

Almost everyone suddenly noticed one of the robes was actually a red skull, who tilted his head wordlessly in greeting. Xavia's hand instinctively reached halfway to her sword's handle before stopping. The only one who did not react in surprise was Ricon, who had noticed the skull's presence earlier, and had kept an eye on him until now.

"He doesn't stand out all that much, or say a lot, so I guess it's no surprise you didn't even notice him." Tetra smirked at the skull, who merely shrugged. The shopkeeper then turned back to the overlord's company. "So, anyway, what can I do for you? Shall I make us some tea?"

"Oh, yes please!" Flonne spoke delightedly, "I'll he-"

"We don't have time for that!" snapped Laharl. "We need to get back to the castle, so I can kick those invaders' asses!"

"Invaders, huh?" Pikk squeaked, sliding fireman-style down the lamp post. "That **is** heavy stuff! Can I come too?" He peered up at Laharl with eager, beady eyes.

"You're not going anywhere!" Tetra snatched up the restless faerie by the collar, who began kicking and squirming.

"Can we use this portal to get into the castle?" Etna asked.

Nirros shook his head, and Tetra grimaced apologetically. "No, we've never been able to portal to the castle. Whenever Rouge comes to visit, she always portals here, then gets someone at the castle to portal her back."

"That would be me," Zaeon added dreamily. "No one can portal directly into the overlord's castle, because it's protected by a dimensional barrier. There can only be portals going out from the castle's gate."

"Well _that's_ inconvenient," grumbled Laharl.

"It was this barrier that prevented assassins from teleporting directly into your room and murdering you in your sleep, Lord Laharl." Zaeon responded just as dreamily as before.

"Like they'd stand a chance anyway, since I could clobber them all in my sleep," the young overlord stated, as if this were an obvious fact.

"Don't forget Prince; not all assassins are as horrible as Flonne was." Etna grinned.

The fallen angel giggled self-confessedly, recalling the time she had first met Laharl.

Tetra ogled Flonne. "Whoa, I'm totally missing something here."

"Well, you see," Flonne began, "I'm actually-"

"Hellooooo? We have a crisis here? This is no time to exchange life stories!" Laharl abruptly turned to gaze sulkingly at the dimensional gate. "If we can't get _into_ the castle, can we at least get _near_ the castle?"

Nirros nodded, the sides of his skull hood bobbing.

"I sometimes visit the city of Diablus to trade merchandise with another shop." Tetra explained. "Nirros can portal you there. It's only a couple miles or so from the overlord's castle."

"A couple of miles? You can't get us any closer?" Laharl's annoyance was noticeable.

Tetra adjusted her glasses irritably. "Hey, if we could do better than that, we would. If my cousin were here, she could probably get you right to the doorstep."

Laharl turned a hopeful glance to his royal attendant. "Can _you_ get us any closer to the castle, Zaeon?"

"I'm afraid not, Lord Laharl." Zaeon bowed apologetically. "I have never attempted a gate outside the castle. I wouldn't know the proper co-ordinates."

Laharl muttered something inaudible and looked beyond his vassals back to the dimensional gate. "Alright, fine, let's just get going so we can get there already."

Nirros nodded, and outstretched his robed arms toward the shop's gate, focusing on the destination. In little time, a portal had formed. The image of tall buildings lining a disorderly street swam in the portal.

"Yep, that's Diablus," Etna confirmed. "I've been there a couple times. It's really crowded and noisy, but if you know where to go, you can find some great deals on all kinds of things."

"Really?" Flonne gazed eagerly into the portal.

"It's true," Tetra added. "I buy most of my clothes there."

"Yeah, in the men's section! _Keeheehee!_" Pikk the faerie had long since escaped Tetra's grasp, and was now perched atop her green-haired head like an oversized hat. Tetra moved to smite him, but he slid off just in time, causing her fist to connect with her own head instead. "Oww! Dammit Pikk!" The bespectacled shopkeeper rubbed her self-inflicted injury while glaring around for the mischievous demon.

"Enough wasting time, we're going now," the impatient child overlord marched through the portal, with Ricon and Xavia in tow.

"Thanks for everything!" Flonne bowed in gratitude to the trio in the shop. "When everything's settled, I hope we can come visit with miss Rouge and get to know each other better." The fallen angel trailed the rest of the overlord's party through the portal before it shortly vanished.

His work done, Nirros glanced to Tetra, noticing she had put away her glasses, and was gazing out one of the thick windows.

"Yeah, I hope she's okay, too."

* * *

_To be continued...  
_


	12. The Road Back

"It's _finally_ break time, dood!" An exhausted prinny slumped down upon a crate in the alleyway beside a restaurant. "I thought the dishes would never stop coming!"

"No kidding!" another prinny sighed, also flopping down. "These 18-hour shifts are brutal, dood!"

"I hear most prinnies have to work 20 hours straight, with _no breaks_, dood. We should feel lucky, I guess."

The duo's conversation was diverted by the sight of a strange blur that appeared at the mouth of the alleyway.

"Dood, what's that?" One prinny pointed at the strange anomaly with a fin.

"Looks like a portal or something, dood," remarked the other.

Just as the other prinny had guessed, figures were soon emerging from behind the blur.

"I've never seen the **back** of a portal before, dood. Trippy..." The prinnies both gazed in curiosity as one person after another materialized. After a figure with long blonde hair emerged, the portal shortly collapsed.

"Who do you think those guys are, dood?" One prinny cocked his head curiously towards the newcomers at the alley's entrance, who seemed to be in a state of debate.

"Who cares, dood? It's probably better that we don't know." The other prinny looked away, pretending the group of demons didn't exist.

"Hey, you prinnies over there!" called a young but demanding voice from the group. Both prinnies broke into a nervous sweat as a blue-haired boy with antenna hair marched towards them.

"Whatever it is, we didn't do it, dood!" One prinny cowered.

"Does one of you have a map or something of this city?" the mean-looking demon child demanded with crossed arms.

"O-one sec, dood." The other prinny began rummaging in his pouch. Several seconds later he pulled out a wrinkled, folded piece of thick paper with imprints on it. "Here it is, dood."

"I'll take that," Laharl swiped the map from the nervous prinny and unfolded it at once. It was sloppily scrawled, and some of the locations were barely readable. After scanning it for several seconds with furrowed brows, Laharl looked up. "...And where exactly are we on this thing?"

"Right here," one prinny pointed on the map with a fin. "The ally between Gogg's Grill and Sadie's Shoe Sindicate on Were Street."

"Oh, Sadie's? I've always wanted to go there!" Nikka practically jumped, eyes lighting up. "Can we go there? Can-we-can-we-can-_weee_?"

Before Laharl could so much as round on her, Flonne piped up: "Oh, that would be lovely! I was thinking of buying a new pair of shoes. Maybe some nice red ones..."

Laharl cleared his throat, but Etna chimed in: "Yeah, that would look cute on you, Flonne! Maybe I should try something different too?"

Laharl opened his mouth for a rebuke, but Nikka had turned to Zaeon. "You could use some more shoes too, Zaeon! Let's all go shopping together!"

"That sounds delightful, but it will have to wait," the royal attendant replied dreamily. "I think Lord Laharl is more concerned about other matters right now."

The girls turned to Laharl, whose expression was clearly that of exasperation.

"Oh, right, the castle," Etna said, as if recalling a troublesome detail. "I guess that's slightly more important right now."

"_**Slightly?**_" the currently homeless Overlord breathed. He wondered why in the netherworld girls were so fascinated with clothes and shoes. It's not like they made them more powerful, like armour...

"So...are you done with the map, dood?" One prinny asked hopefully. Laharl turned to eye him, making him regret opening his beak.

"Like I can even read this thing," he muttered, tossing it back.

The prinny rushed to catch the map, which caught on the air and almost hit the greasy ally floor. "You're really giving it back? That's awfully generous of you, dood!"

"It is!" Flonne beamed at Laharl. "I'm glad to see you're starting to show your subjects more kindness, Laharl."

Laharl cringed at the word 'kindness'. "Am not! I don't need a stupid map I can't even read!...Which is why-" Laharl rounded on the prinny, who instinctively cowered. "You're coming with us."

"Say what, dood?" The prinny gaped blankly.

"You heard me." Laharl jabbed a finger at the prinny's map. "Since you're the only one who can read this scrawl, you can be our guide."

"Hold up, dood! I-I already have a job!" the prinny protested in a panic.

"Well I'm the Overlord, and I say you now work for me."

"Dood? The _Overlord?_" The prinny froze and gaped at Laharl once more.

"Yeah, dood. You didn't recognize him?" The other prinny shrugged.

"Neither did you, dood! I was like, 'who are those guys, dood?' and you were all, 'I dunno, dood.'..."

"Okay, less talking, more guiding." Laharl literally dragged the map-bearing prinny out of the ally.

"Happy trails, dood!" The other prinny cheerfully waved them farewell. No sooner did the group vanish from the ally, when a door slammed open behind him, nearly scaring him out of his stitching.

"Break time's over! **Git back teh **_**worrrk!**_" barked a golem wearing a chef's hat.

"O-okay, dood." The other prinny sighed, wondering if his partner got the better deal after all.

* * *

With their new prinny guide, the Overlord's party navigated through the crowded streets of Diablus. Some of the city's residents recognized Laharl, and respectfully (but mostly fearfully) gave him space. Other, more ignorant demons did nothing to assist his passage, some even woefully mistaking him for an easy pick pocketing target, only to get swatted into the second or third floor of the nearest building. Thieves fared no better at targeting the others. Ricon, (still carrying an unconscious Lyle over his shoulder,) kicked away a rogue attempting to reach into Jeryk's backpack, and Xavia winded another would-be looter with the hilt of her sword, who tried to sneak a hand into Flonne's purse. (Xavia had meant to draw her sword, but the crowded close quarters had forced her to improvise.) It was Etna who finally snapped, when a huge sweaty ogre brushed against her. The resulting Chaos Impact cleared the streets quite effectively, and since then most of the city's residents got the hint that they should stay away from these oddly powerful travellers.

"Umm, where exactly are we going, dood?" the Overlord's new prinny guide asked, now leading the party through a northern district of Diablus that was less occupied.

"My castle, of course," Laharl glared at the prinny. "And don't you dare ask why I have to walk there."

The prinny, who was about to ask just that, shut his beak tight and focused on guiding the party. "Let's see...dood...We're just a couple blocks away from Mez's Machine Madness, which is at the edge of the northern district. After that, you'll be out of the city, dood."

"Mez's Machine Madness?" Jeryk's eyes lit up. "We gotta stop there!"

"Now's not the time for shopping, dummy!" Nikka scorned.

"Says the demon who wanted to waste our time shopping for shoes," Jeryk countered.

"Shut up, _Jerk-ryk!_"

"You shut it, _Nikka No-brain_!"

"Why don't you both shut it?" Etna, finally tiring of her vassals' bickering, clonk'd both of them atop the head to silence them.

Ricon, still carrying Lyle the thief over his shoulder, silently sighed to himself, noting that this could be a long journey.

* * *

"Here we are, dood, Mez's Machine Madness."

The Overlord's party was now standing in front of an oily garage, where lots of machine parts were stacked and littered everywhere.

"Why are we here again?" Laharl grumbled.

"I heard these guys have a 'certain machine' that can get us to the castle faster." Jeryk replied mysteriously, a look of anticipation on his face as he stared into one of the grimy garage windows.

"Like...a catapult?" Etna guessed.

"Somethin' a bit safer than that..." Jeryk tried to wipe away some of the grime on the window so he could peer into the garage.

"Oh! What about a giant robot that can fly us to the castle with jet-propelled legs?" Flonne piped up excitedly.

"Nothin'...quite **that** awesome." The scout knocked on the shop's door, but there was no response.

"What about...A GIANT TOASTER?" A now-conscious Lyle predicted.

"How would a giant toaster get us to the castle faster?" Etna gave her vassal a raised eyebrow.

"Easy!" Lyle began animating the process with hand gestures. "We'd all get into the slots, wait for the toasting to finish, then...SHAZAM! We all pop out, and fly towards the castle!"

"How is **that** any safer than a catapult?" It was Etna's turn to give the thief the 'idiot crown'. "Not to mention we'd all be **baked** before the flight."

"We could turn it down to 'low'." Lyle moaned, rubbing the renewed lump on his head.

"It's still a dumb idea!" Etna gave her vassal yet another lump.

Jeryk knocked on the door once again. "Oi! Anyone here?" After a minute passed without response, he wandered around to the other side of the building, with the rest of the Overlord's party following. They found on the other side what could have been mistaken for a junk yard. There were significantly larger piles of scrap metal, gears, and tires strewn everywhere. Oil stains spotted the ground before a patch of pavement by the garage's back door. Seated on a lawn chair, using a blowtorch on a large, unidentifiable machine, was a demon with an amazingly bushy beard, who wore goggles not unlike the ones Jeryk sported on his forehead. "Yo, you're Mez, right?" the scout greeted.

Mez halted his torching and turned to them. "Watcha want? Shop's closed today." He spoke in an accent not unlike Jeryk's, though thicker, and with a rougher voice. Most of his face that wasn't covered in beard was stained black with oil. He had greasy, afro-like coppery hair, and wore grey coveralls minus the sleeves, which seemed to have been ripped off, exposing his hairy, semi-muscular, oil-stained arms.

Laharl stepped forward, arms crossed. "I, your Overlord, Laharl, require transportation. I hear you have a 'certain machine' that can get us from one place to another quickly."

"The Overlord? Heh, nice try. Like I don' hear that one everyday." Mez pulled out a black cigar from one of his many coverall pockets, and lit it with his blowtorch before taking a puff.

"Would you like a demonstration?" Laharl's fist glowed with demonic power.

"Laharl, wait!" Flonne pleaded, but before she could intervene, Laharl had thrown a ball of hellfire at one of the further scrap heaps, causing it to explode with a shower of gears and bolts.

Mez's cigar drooped in his mouth. He pulled off his goggles so he could behold Laharl with his slightly sunken eyes. "Well, that's ma' daily dose o' surprises righ' there!"

"Now, let's see this machine of yours," the young Overlord demanded.

"Whatever ya fancy, M'lord." The mechanic put his goggles back on, and turned to the garage door. "Obrio! Bring out th' Hell Runner!"

Half a second passed before the garage door slowly began to lift, making a clattering noise. To everyone's surprise, a galactic demon emerged, dragging a large machine on wheels behind it.

Nikka cowered behind Etna. "I hate those things," she whispered, recalling a time when they visited the Stellar Graveyard, and they had to do battle with a particularly strong one. None of Nikka's spells had affected it at all, and its retaliatory attack not only injured her, but ruined one of her favourite skirts.

"Chill out, Nikka, this one isn't going to attack us," Etna spoke exasperatedly, to quell the mage's hopeless phobia.

A couple of Obrio's eyes settled on the Overlord's party as it came to a halt. Nikka ducked further out of sight behind her mistress.

"It is rare for a galactic demon to be seen in these parts, let alone working with others." Ricon stated.

"Obrio's a special case, but I'm sure ya didn't come here ta hear all about that." Mez chuckled, blowing a puff of smoke from his black cigar that Flonne avoided tentatively.

"This is..." Jeryk slowly paced closer to behold the vehicle that the space demon had rolled out. "...Awesome!" The engineer's eyes lit up like a prinny with a match in a fireworks factory. He immediately began to examine every inch of the vehicle with sheer fascination.

To Laharl, the Hell Runner merely looked like an old, pieced-together buggy. It had six wheels, the back two being almost twice the size of the others. Its entire surface was covered in grease stains. A huge engine stuck out of its hood, most likely not originally intended to fit in this particular vehicle. Beyond a small windshield were rows of worn, cracked leather seats that could probably seat six people comfortably.

"She's a prime specimen o' speed after I finished ma toilin'," Mez stated proudly. "No doubt the fastest set o' wheels in all th' netherworld. And she could be yours fer only 500 000 hell."

"Five hundred thousand? For this piece of junk?" Laharl spat. "You do realise I'm the Overlord, right?"

"I'm givin' ya a discount here!" the mechanic scratched his beard irritably. "I put ma blood, sweat, an' marrow puttin' her together. I ain't just gonna give 'er away fer nothin'!"

Obrio eyed Jeryk apprehensively, who had crawled under the Hell Runner to examine its undercarriage.

"We could just borrow it?" Flonne suggested, attempting to compromise.

"Ha! Think I was born yesterday, do ya?" Mez scoffed. "Ya all'll just make off with her, an' I'll never see her again."

Flonne looked affronted. "No way! Who would do such a thing?"

Laharl sweatdropped. "Uhh, Flonne. _Netherworld_. Hello?"

"Oh, right." Flonne giggled sheepishly.

Mez took a final drag of his cigar, and stomped it out on the pavement. "If ya aren't gonna pay, then-"

"I'll take her!" Jeryk had emerged, covered in grease, and promptly extracted a wad of bills from his backpack.

Mez counted the money with blackened fingers. "Well I'll be an angel's uncle..." He double-counted the money, then looked up to nod at Jeryk. "That's the lot o' it. She's all yours, sonney." Mez pocketed the money, then withdrew a set of keys, and tossed them to Jeryk. "Take good care o' her for me, would ya?"

"You gotcha!" Jeryk caught the keys, saluted to the mechanic, then eagerly jumped into the Hell Runner's driver's seat, gripping the wheel with thrill.

"Where in the netherworld did you get all that money?" Laharl gave the scout a incredulous stare.

"I've been savin' my _hl_ for months ever since I saw her in the brochure," Jeryk rubbed the dashboard fondly.

"And you carried the money with you? What if a thief came by and stole it?" Etna wondered.

"Trust me, it was safe in there," Lyle moaned, recalling his one and only attempt to loot Jeryk's backpack. "My fingers still cringe every time I think about it..."

The scout turned the key, and the Hell Runner rumbled to life. "Jump in, gang! This baby'll get us to the castle faster than Romlii the golem can down a pot of Zaeon's stew!"

"I dunno, he downed that pot pretty fast..." Etna hopped into the front passenger seat, and spread out lazily.

"Get in the back, Etna," Laharl demanded. "As your ruler, I should get to sit up front."

"Nuh-uh, Prince," Etna crossed her arms adamantly. "Jeryk's my vassal, and he owns the car, so I, his mistress, get to sit in front."

"Your vassals are my vassals, remember? So move it!" The two young demons began having a shoving match, which caused the Hell Runner to rock violently.

"Now, now, you two," Flonne said motherly, hopping into the seat behind them. "We all need to share the space if we're all going to fit in here."

Ricon and Xavia crammed into the middle seat beside Flonne, while Lyle and Zaeon slid into the back seat.

"C'mon, Nikka! Get in!" Jeryk called to the mage, who hadn't moved an inch.

"No way!" Nikka crossed her arms. "I'm not sitting in that greasy thing! It'll get my clothes all black and dirty!"

"I-I didn't think of that..." Flonne said squeamishly, examining her white blouse at once for oil stains.

"Fine," Jeryk said in mock defeat. "We'll just leave you behind with Obrio..."

Nikka's eyes grew large as she moved ever so slightly to behold the galactic demon hovering by the garage. Two of its many eyes were staring straight at her. With a frightened sound, Nikka hastily slid in next to Zaeon.

Just as Jeryk shifted the Hell Runner into gear, Laharl said: "Hold on, we're forgetting something..." The young ruler of the netherworld turned to see a small blue figure slinking away. "Hey, Prinny!"

The prinny froze in his tracks, turning reluctantly. "Y-yes, dood?"

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Um, well, since I showed you out of the city, I was kinda sorta gonna go back to my job, dood?"

"Your job? What part of 'you now work for me' did you not understand? You're **my** vassal now. Hop in."

"D-dood?" The prinny looked thunderstruck.

"Hey Prince, just out of curiosity, why do you still need this single prinny?" Etna asked.

Laharl grinned evilly. "He may come in handy if we need to **blast** our way in."

Etna fist-palmed in comprehension. "Oh, right! Makes sense."

"Doooooooood..."

With the prinny positioned on Flonne's lap, Jeryk hit the gas, and the Hell Runner sped away across the open netherworld plains. Mez hadn't been exaggerating about its speed; most of the occupants kept a white-knuckled grip on anything or anyone near them. Flonne squeezed the prinny tightly to herself, bringing him to a state of near-suffocation. If he were to fly out, it wouldn't end well for him, or anyone nearby. Even Ricon and Xavia were holding on for their lives, gripping the edge of the front seats.

"_Jeryyyyyk!_ **Slow **_**doooown!**_" Nikka screeched at the top of her lungs, who was clamped tightly to Zaeon.

"But we're in a hurry, ain't we?" the scout said with glee in his voice, swerving left around a large demon skull and causing everyone to jerk to the right.

"W-we don't need to go _this_ fast!" Laharl gripped the dashboard with clenched teeth.

"Y-yeah! Slow down a bit, would ya?" Etna held the side of the car to avoid being knocked into Laharl during the next bend.

"Oh, alrighty," Jeryk said reluctantly, easing off the gas pedal slightly.

The remainder of the trip was done at a much safer speed. The city of Diablus was far behind them, and they could make out the many-pronged silhouette of the Overlord's Castle in the distance. The land was going from flat with grass patches, to rocky and uneven. The netherworld sky swirled with clouds that began to be stained with the bronze light of sunset. Xavia the swordmaster held her sword awkwardly at her side, too cramped in the vehicle to keep it in a good drawing position. Perhaps it was this that made her feel uneasy, since she had been taught at a young age to always keep her sword ready, even in situations where you are unlikely to be attacked. She gripped her sword's handle as she stared off towards the castle's growing form over a few jagged hills. Crammed in next to her, Ricon the shinobi was silent, unbetraying of his own unease.

"Ewww! Someone stinks!" a whining voice rose above the rumble of the Hell Runner's engine. "I smell b.o.!" Nikka the mage held her nose in disgust.

Zaeon stared down miserably, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. Being stranded on Blackness Peak meant she hadn't had a proper bath in three long days. Her arms, compressed as it was in the close quarters, clamped even tighter to her sides.

Etna turned awkwardly in her seat to investigate. "It's probably Lyle. He _did_ run all the way up Blackness Peak."

"Hey, this stinky man saved everyone's butts today," Lyle raised an arm in Nikka's direction, "So just breathe in the scent of your saviour with gratitude."

"_Cud id ouuuud!_" Nikka protested through a pinched nose, attempting to reach across from Zaeon and swat his arm back down.

Zaeon caught a wink from Etna, and responded with a grateful smile.

An enormous yawn from Laharl shook the Hell Runner, jostling its occupants. "Are we there yet?"

The road got rougher, but Jeryk drove the Hell Runner on over hills and along narrow passes. By sunset, the castle was in full view.

"Now that I think about it, I don't get to see it from the outside very much..." Laharl gazed at his palace, a jagged form against the darkening sky. The sun was dissolving into the horizon, revealing the large overhanging moon. The castle looked as it always did; a series of spires and odd-shaped floors sticking out of the mountainside. The castle lights shining through the various-shaped windows gave off a fittingly spooky outline, the sea of lava far below adding a molten glow to its walls. There was no visible damage; not so much as a broken window. Nothing appeared out of place.

"Hey Lyle, what's the deal? Wasn't there a big battle for the castle or something?" Etna asked her vassal. "Nothing looks different at all."

"That's the scary thing," the thief spoke ominously, eyeing the castle with a look of foreboding. "They just waltzed right in. The guards didn't even slow 'em down. By the time anyone on the upper floors knew we were being invaded, they were already there. I only got away 'cause the veteran vassals managed to distract them long enough for Rouge to give me the beacon and send me to Blackness Peak to warn you."

"Hmhmhm...How crafty of them to attack while I was away. But their fun and games has come to an end now that Overlord Laharl is back! **Haaaaahahahahahaaa!" **Laharl's signature laugh rose above the rumble of the Hell Runner as they made their way across the arching, uneven stone bridge that led to the castle gates.

Xavia, who normally felt at ease hearing her young master's arrogant laugh, couldn't shake the dire feeling that had been building in a spot behind her ribcage. She could definitely sense something from the castle, but it was more than just power...There was something else...something the sword master couldn't identify. Whatever it was, it made her hands shake slightly. She clenched the handle of her sword to stop them, steeling herself into battle mode. This was no time to be weak.

"What have I gotten myself dragged into, dood?..." The prinny wondered direly, looking up at the approaching form of the Overlord's Castle with pure dread.

* * *

_To be continued..._


	13. Evil Eyes

The castle gates were already open, one of them misshapen, and swaying limply. It was the first sign of damage to the castle that the Overlord's party had seen. The Hell Runner soon pulled up to the castle doors: a great archway leading into the castle's main floor. Its doors were blown completely into the hall inside, as if someone exceptionally strong had rammed through, sending them flying off their hinges.

"Well, I guess we brought this prinny for nothing," Etna mused, looking over the destroyed doorway.

The prinny let out a sigh of relief.

Zaeon looked over the damage with concern. "These doors were magically reinforced to withstand an invasion from an entire army of lesser demons. Whoever destroyed them must be very strong."

Flonne stared up at the castle's many spires. "I hope my flower garden is okay..."

Laharl's party entered the castle, unaware that they were already being watched...

While the outside of the Overlord's Castle had appeared normal, the inside was in complete disarray. The stone floors were cracked in places, with the occasional miniature crater. Tapestries and statues of previous Overlords were lopsided, or had fallen to the floor. Some doors were unhinged, or were simply missing altogether, replaced by gaping holes in the wall. But the worst part about the new décor was the patches of dark red on the walls and floors: what was unmistakeably dried blood.

"How horrible..." fallen angel Flonne cringed, thankful there were at least no bodies to accompany the gruesome sight. She pulled out her silver staff, which shone in the hall's torchlight.

Xavia had already drawn her sword, and Ricon's posture showed he was fully alert and ready for a fight.

"What have I gotten myself into, dood?" the prinny moaned direly, following the party at a timid distance down the ruined halls.

"Those jerks..." Laharl's black sword shook with anger. "How **dare** they do this to **my castle? **This is unforgivable!"

"Now you know how Overlord Prier must have felt." Etna held Longinus casually at her side.

"It was her own fault for not fighting me in the first place," Laharl said simply, leading his vassals past an intersection in the hall.

"Uh, Prince, where are you going? Isn't the next floor back that way?" Etna pointed behind them back to the intersection.

"I-I knew that! I'm just taking a detour so we can throw the invaders off."

"But you have to take the north hall to reach the next floor. This way leads to the dungeons. Honestly, you don't know your way around your own castle?"

"S-shut up, Etna." Laharl abruptly turned around, nearly colliding with Ricon, who nimbly stepped aside as if he had expected his young master's change in direction. A slight blush was creeping on the young Overlord's face. Despite his many years living in the castle, he had rarely ventured down its lower floors. He had only done so several times when he was younger and more curious, but those were centuries ago. "An Overlord doesn't need to go down to the lower floors of his castle. This area is for guards and peons like you."

"Pardon me?" Etna erupted, but before she could retort further, everyone heard a timid noise issue from a large tapestry bearing the Overlord's symbol. The party's heads turned to behold the small form of a ghost whisk out to reveal himself.

"Oh, you're finally home, Prince! Thank badness you made it!" Ghoss squeaked in relief.

"Hiding from the invaders, I see." Laharl rolled his eyes.

"They're really strong, Prince! Don't underestimate them." Ghoss looked around nervously. "They might even have spies watching you..._Aah!_" the ghost let out a nervous shriek, and vanished behind the tapestry.

"Hey, hold it!" Laharl tore open the tapestry, only to find nothing but the stone wall behind it.

"What was that about?" Etna wondered, turning to see if there was anyone watching them, but there were only empty corridors surrounding the party.

Ricon suddenly tossed a kunai up at the ceiling. The rest of the party looked up just in time to see it had impaled what looked like a floating eyeball, which promptly vanished in a black haze.

"W-what was that?" Flonne timidly wondered.

"That looked like an Evil Eye," Nikka stated. "They're magical summons used for spying."

The party stared at her. Jeryk in particular looked amazed that the mage had conjured anything knowledgeable from her mouth.

"What? I **am** a mage after all. What's with the looks of surprise?" Nikka wore a sour face.

"No offence, Nikka, but you never seemed like the type to study anything," Etna said with a teasing smirk.

"Mistress, that's mean!" Nikka now wore a full pout.

"Yeah. Seems like something she would learn so she could use it ta cheat off of others on a test." Jeryk added sagely.

"No one had any right answers though, so we all ended up failing...I mean, hey! Did not!" Nikka swung her staff at Jeryk, who dodged adeptly.

"This is no time for humorous banter," Ricon stated. "The invaders know we are here. We should move quickly."

The Overlord's party obeyed the shinobi master, hastening down the hall towards the upper floors of the castle.

* * *

"There are over nine of them, My Lord," rasped an old crone, who opened her left eye. "One of them seems to be a skilled shinobi. He noticed my Eye spying on them." She was a short demon with leathery wrinkled skin, robed in grey, with white hair pinned up by a skeletal bird talon.

"Interesting..." spoke a tall figure wearing armour the colour of dried blood. "Do any of them resemble Krichevskoy?"

"There is a boy who resembles him, no doubt his son."

"Did you hear his name?"

"I cannot 'hear' anything with the Evil Eye, My Lord. It is not an Evil Ear, after all." The old crone cackled.

"It doesn't matter anyway..." The tall figure turned to stare at the Overlord's throne. In the blink of an eye, it had been severed in two.

"Shall I greet them, Lord Taron?" Boomed a large, living suit of armour.

Taron clasped his dark, serrated blade to a magnetic strip on the back of his armour, crossing it with the great axe that remained there. "Not yet, Galhaad." He then turned to the crone. "Send our new drones to test them, Debevra."

"_Keeheeheehee_," the crone cackled with delight. "As you wish, My Lord..."

* * *

Ricon lead the way up a third flight of stairs before halting. He held up a hand, motioning the rest of the party to stop.

"What is it, Ricon?" Laharl said with slight annoyance. By now he was growing tired of sneaking around in his own castle.

"Something is amiss..." Ricon mumbled mysteriously.

"Traps?" Flonne asked, glancing around the seemingly normal room. It was an intersected area, with hallways to the left and right, and another stairway straight ahead that lead to the fifth floor. Spears, swords, and armour hung on stands and racks on the walls, indicating this floor was used as barracks for the castle soldiers.

Without a word, Ricon slowly approached the stairs leading to the next floor. He stared at the stone tiles before the stairs, where the rest of the party soon noticed the unmistakeable glow of...

"Geo panels...?" Zaeon murmured.

"...In the castle?" Laharl stared at the yellow panels in wonder.

"Those definitely don't belong here," Etna stated.

Ricon withdrew a kunai from his back pocket, and threw it towards the panels. It bounced off an invisible force, and clattered to the stone floor. "No Entry panels," he stated, picking his kunai back up.

Jeryk, who was an expert in geo formations, cautiously walked closer to investigate. "Whoever set this up knew what they were doin'," he said with a dire grimace. "There's no way to get around it unless we find the geo symbol and destroy it."

"Can't you just use your Geo Change and get rid of them?" Laharl demanded, becoming more impatient by the second.

"Nope," Jeryk said simply. "This is a high-level formation, set up deliberately. Someone took their time to create this formation. Geo Change is a quick fix spell; I can't really control what appears when I use it, and it only changes randomly formed geo formations. It's not gonna work on these panels."

"_Grrrr_, fine then!" Laharl stepped forward, his demonic aura flaring up. "Step aside! I'll blast a way through!"

"W-wait Laharl!" Flonne called in alarm, running ahead to block the young demon's path. "You can't use physical force on geo panels, remember? The only thing you'll do is cause the palace to collapse on top of us!"

"Flonne is right, Lord Laharl," Zaeon spoke gravely. "We'll have to find a way around them."

The young Demon King gritted his teeth in frustration, but his aura subsided. "Fine. Let's split up so we can find that stupid geo symbol faster. Ricon, Xavia, come with me. The rest of you go the other way." Laharl began marching down the left hall.

"Hold on Prince," Etna prompted, "Shouldn't we split into more even groups?"

"It _is_ even," Laharl stated. "I only need two people in my group. I don't have to explain why, do I?"

"So fewer people have to listen to your whining?" Etna smirked.

Laharl's aura flared back up as he gave his vassal a death glare. The prinny yelped with fright and hid behind Flonne.

Etna, slightly taken aback at this extreme reaction, put a hand to her hip defensively. "Geez, Prince, can't you take a joke?"

After much bickering and debate from Laharl and Etna, the Overlord's party was split into two even groups. Laharl, Flonne, Ricon, Nikka, and the prinny headed left, while Etna, Zaeon, Xavia, Jeryk, and Lyle took the right hall. Whichever group found and destroyed the 'No Entry' geo symbol would send a runner to inform the other.

"Stupid Etna," Laharl grumbled, storming ahead of the others in his group. "Thinks she knows everything."

"Well, she _is_ older than you, Laharl," Flonne pointed out.

Laharl turned with a malicious grimace. "Not as old as you, _Granny Flonne,_"

"I-I'm not _that_ old!" Flonne sputtered.

"At least I still have _my_ youth!" Nikka sang, inspecting her long blue hair in a hand mirror.

"How old are you anyway, Nikka?" Flonne turned to the mage with curiosity.

"_Ohhh_, that's _seeee~cret!_" the mage winked.

"You're probably just as freakishly old as all the other demons, dood," The prinny said. Nikka's answer was to turn him into a prinny-popsicle.

Everyone came to a halt at the sound of deep, snorting laughter echoing from beyond the corner ahead of them.

"Who's there?" Laharl demanded, drawing his black-bladed sword. "Show yourself!"

A large shadow passed over the far wall, soon joined by a large boar-demon wearing a fancy red gown. "Come now, Prince. You couldn't have forgotten me already?" he grunted.

"What do you want, Hoggmeiser?" Laharl lowered his sword, but did not put it away.

"I just came to warn you that there are traps up ahead," Hoggmeiser indicated with a thick pointed finger down the hall which he came. "The castle has been taken over, you know."

"No thanks to you," Laharl grumbled, putting away his sword. Since his defeat over a year ago, Hoggmeiser has once again served as a vassal in the castle in order to make money. Laharl still didn't fully trust him, but didn't consider him a threat either way. "What kind of annoying traps are there this time?"

"More geo panels; probably damage panels," Hoggmeiser snorted. "I didn't want to activate them and find out."

"Some help you are," Laharl walked onward, passing the large boar.

"Lord Laharl, look out!" Ricon called urgently.

"Laharl!" Flonne yelled.

Hoggmeiser had withdrawn his axe from behind his cloak just as he had a clear view of his young Overlord's back. The axe swished through the air, which was all that now filled the space that Laharl had occupied just a second ago.

Laharl landed from his backflip, returning to the front of his company. "Idiot! Are you turning on me now?"

Hoggmeiser grinned wide, showing a long row of sharp, pointed teeth.

Laharl drew his sword and pointed it with dispassion at the money-loving boar. "I beat you up before, and I'm a lot stronger than that now. What makes you think you have a chance?"

Hoggmeiser let out a snorting laugh. "You think you're the only one who's gotten stronger, Prince?" He held up his axe in challenge of Laharl's blade.

Ricon moved to join his young master at the front of the party. "I don't think he's bluffing, Lord Laharl. I sense a strange dark power from him that I haven't sensed before."

Flonne and Nikka stood just behind them, staves held, looking on at the demon boar apprehensively.

"You guys just stay back. I'll deal with this loser," Laharl advanced on Hoggmeiser. He had a lot of irritation to vent, and saw this as a good warm-up for the inevitable thrashing he was going to give whoever had trampled into **his** domain.

"You think I'm a loser, Prince?" Hoggmeiser slammed his axe into the stone floor, causing a huge fissure that shot straight at them. Laharl leaped over the great gash to meet the demented boar. Laharl's black blade met Hoggmeiser's axe. The young Overlord hadn't expected Hoggmeiser to block his attack so easily, and the boar took advantage of his surprise. He lifted his left fist up, and it glowed with dark power. Laharl found himself in a swirl of darkness. It was like being in a dense ball of gas. Hoggmeiser then struck the darkness with his axe, causing Laharl to explode out of it. Laharl fell down through the large fissure in the floor, disappearing from view.

"Laharl!" Flonne cried. She, Nikka, and Ricon had avoided the split in the floor, but they had retreated a good five meters to do so.

"Who's the loser now?" Hoggmeiser's snorting laughter filled the hallway.

"_Riicoooon_, do something!" Nikka whined, too far from the boar to cast a spell that would reach him.

"There is no need," Ricon stated, remaining still.

"But, Laharl..." Flonne trailed off.

"Lord Laharl told us to stay back, and that is what we must do." Ricon was gazing at Hoggmeiser with cautious anticipation. It was then that Flonne knew Laharl was far from out of the fight.

The floor around the laughing boar suddenly erupted with hellfire. Hoggmeiser plummeted through the resulting hole, landing on his back in the room below, where a battle-ready Laharl stood. This room was wider than a hall, with weapons on racks, and training dummies made of straw; a training room for the castle soldiers.

Hoggmeiser did not have time to rise; Laharl delivered a leaping kick that sent him crashing into a row of bulls-eye props used for archery practice. With a furious grunt, the demon boar heaved himself from the wreckage, only to receive a ball of hellfire that he was barely able to block. Before he knew it next, Laharl had pinned him to the stone wall with one hand grasped at his cloak, black blade held to his throat.

"N-_noo_, don't-" Hoggmeiser whimpered and snorted with panic. "They made me do it! I-I didn't want-"

"Who's _they_?" Laharl growled, "Talk!"

"The invaders!" the boar squealed, squirming under Laharl's amazing strength, unable to break free despite his newfound power. "There's four of them...plus the witch. They're really strong! The witch cast some kind of spell on me that amplified my power."

"Where are they now?" Laharl pressed impatiently, desiring less to know who they are, and wanting more to know their location so he could beat them senseless.

"Th-the throne room. That's where the other vassals are being held," Hoggmeiser gasped. "P-please, spare me, my Overlord!"

Laharl glared at the miserable boar-demon. Only a voice in the back of his mind, one that sounded like his mother, (or perhaps Flonne?) urged him to loosen his grip on the formerly rich demon's cloak. Hoggmeiser slumped to the floor with a wheezing grunt.

"I'll deal with you later." Turning his back on the treacherous boar, Laharl leaped up through the large gash in the ceiling to re-join his comrades on the floor above.

"Laharl!" Flonne sighed with relief. "I was worried..."

"What for?" Laharl scowled at the angel. "You think I would lose to the likes of _him?_"

Flonne's relief turned to distress. "W-well...no, but..."

"Let's just keep going." Laharl turned his back on them. "The invaders are in the throne room." He leaped across the lengthy fissure to land beyond the hole Hoggmeiser had plummeted through, and turned to pace down the bend in the hall."

"Laharl, wait!" Flonne called after him. "Nikka and I can't jump that far!"

"The Prince is so grumpy today," Nikka muttered. "More than usual, I mean."

"He is no doubt frustrated that the castle has been infiltrated," Ricon stated. "Lord Laharl will not be at ease until he has reclaimed it."

"Mmm..." Flonne nodded solemnly. Ricon carried Nikka, then herself across the chasm in the floor. As she was carried over, it occurred to her that the castle was not just a symbol of Laharl's lordship, but it was also his _home_. _He must be feeling the same way now as how I felt when we had to invade Celestia..._

Reaching the other side of the fissure, the party was about to catch up with their Overlord, when they heard a high, shaky voice echo from down the hall behind them: "W-w-wait...W-what about m-me..._do-Oo-Ood_..."

The prinny, still half-frozen from Nikka's ice spell, waved a wing at them before collapsing face-first onto the stone floor.

"Oh no, we forgot the prinny!" Flonne gazed at the pitiful penguin pityingly. "Ricon, please bring him over too, and I'll heal him."

Ricon obliged.

"It was his own fault for calling me _old_," Nikka muttered, once again examining herself in her hand mirror.

No one noticed the eye that was gazing at them from behind a torch near the ceiling...

* * *

"Krichevskoy's son is strong," Debevra the crone reported. "The boar-demon was no match, even with the power of my Darkness Pact."

"Can I kick his ass already?" growled a lean, muscular female demon wearing a tight black body suit. "I'm bored as hell!" She scratched the back of her head, which had short, violet hair.

"Patience, Seshira," spoke Taron. He glanced back to Debevra. "You spoke of another group?"

"Yes, indeed, My Lord," screeched the crone. She opened her left eye, then closed her right. "Yes, they are about to be tested right now..."

* * *

_To be continued..._


	14. Dark Memories, Dark Minds

_**KappeZ:** By the flames, I'm still working on this thing? Looks like it._

**Prinny:** It only takes you what...a **year** to update?

_**KappeZ:** Gimme a break. I've been busy, okay?_

**Prinny: ***glances at copy of Disgaea 4* Uhh, sure, dood.

_**KappeZ:**_ _Anyway, in all seriousness, the comic I've been working on with my fellow geeks now has a website! (Please see my profile for the url. The editor is being a giant jerkbag, and not letting me post it here_. ^_^") _Please take a look and let me know what you think!_

**Prinny:** Less talky, more story, dood!

_**KappeZ:** Yeah, yeah..._

* * *

Etna led Xavia, Jeryk, Zaeon, and Lyle down the hall. Suits of armour, weapons on racks, and torches lined the stone walls. Though they had to find and destroy the 'No Entry' geo symbol to reach the upper floors, Etna was in no hurry. She kept the pace casual, though held sharp eyes, ready to spot potential traps. The lack of traps so far was a little...unsettling. _I'm sure the Prince has stumbled headlong into some traps of his own right now. Serves him right for being such a brat._

"I forgot how long this hall was," Zaeon said conversationally, desiring to break the silent tension. "I haven't been down here in decades."

"Yeah," agreed Jeryk. "The only ones who probably have are Lyle and Xavia."

Lyle scratched his head. "I just come here to swipe stuff. N-!" he caught a look from Xavia. "N-not that I would take anything _important_, y'know, just..." The thief's voice died with a meek, high-pitched chuckle.

Xavia said nothing. She drew her sword.

"_Iieeeeee!_" Lyle shrieked, hiding behind a suit of spikey armour.

But Xavia's blade was not directed at the thief. She stared at the hallway before them, awaiting the dark presence she had sensed to show itself.

"Looks like we have company," said Etna, sensing it too. She drew out Longinus. Jeryk was right behind her, his custom gun, Tiamat mk. 2, held steady. Zaeon was further back, bowstring drawn. Lyle simply poked his head out from behind the armour to witness the tall, caped figure emerge from down the hall to greet them.

"Why hello, my dear Etna. Welcome back." The figure grinned, revealing sharp, pointed canines.

"You..." Etna stared at the vampire before her.

"I hope you have noticed a few changes," Maderas held up his hands in a grand gesture. "Not only has there been a change in leadership, but a change in power. My power is greater than ever before!"

"Oh, is that all?" Etna scoffed. "For a second there, I thought it was something _significant._"

Maderas look stung, but only for a second. His angular face turned calm, and he gave her a cool gaze. "And what is significant to you, Etna? Is there anything..._personal_ that you may have left unguarded during your absence?"

_He's bluffing, _thought Etna, yet her mind strayed to a secret room in the castle that contained a rather personal book. _No one knows about that room except for me. There's no way he knows about that._ "I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied calmly.

"Personal...?" Lyle pondered. "Like bras, or panties, or-" He was cut off by the force of a demonic fireball to the forehead cast by his mistress.

"_Hmmhmm,_" Maderas chuckled, licking his lips. "I'm sure you know what I mean."

"Okay, you're starting to creep me out," Etna held Longinus towards the devious vampire. "What the hell did you steal from me this time?"

"You were quite careless to leave something so tempting in an accessible place," Maderas scorned. "After all, you're not the only one in this castle with a sweet tooth..."

"No...way..." Etna gazed at the vampire, her crimson eyes burning with lethal intent. "You **didn't**..."

"Revenge, and quadruple chocolate mousse cake, are both dishes best served cold, after all." Maderas let out a malicious laugh.

"You **BASTARD!**" Etna lunged straight at Maderas.

The vampire was ready. He unleashed a Chaos Fire from his outstretched hands. Etna parted one of the balls of fire with Longinus, too enraged to notice it was a much stronger spell than before. Etna was upon Maderas, ready to stab, but the vampire disappeared in a dark whirl.

"Behind ya, Mistress!" called Jeryk, who fired a shot at their newly-reformed foe. The bullet only made it halfway before bouncing off an invisible force. "What the...?" More of Jeryk's shots were deflected before they could reach their target, as was a round of arrows from Zaeon, and the blade of Xavia's sword.

"_Mwahahaha!_" cackled the vampire. "You fell right into my trap!"

Xavia saw a yellow glow below her. "Geo panels...?"

"When did those get there?" Jeryk automatically scanned the room for a geo symbol, but saw only a single line of panels that crossed their path.

"I saw 'em change," Lyle piped up. "We couldn't see these panels before, 'cause they were blue like the floor. One of Maderas' fireballs hit a geo symbol hidden behind a suit of armour, and _sha-zam!_, it changed the tiles yellow."

"The same colour as the panels at the stairway," observed Zaeon. "That means they are most likely linked to the same 'No Entry' geo symbol."

"Now we're stuck here, with only Mistress Etna on the other side." Jeryk whistled, impressed. "Not a bad setup..."

"This is no time to be impressed," snapped Xavia, who gave the barrier a futile slash with her sword. "Now we cannot fight."

"Works for me!" Etna was furiously attacking Maderas, just barely unable to land a hit. She leapt up to deliver an Impaler which the vampire avoided just in time. "I need to teach him a lesson, _personally!_"

"_Mwa ha ha..._" Maderas cackled, "It is _I_ who will teach you a lesson, foolish girl!" With a whirl of darkness, he transformed into a swarm of black bats that flew straight at the demoness.

With a spin of Longinus, Etna dispersed the bat swarm. "Ha! Is that all you've got?"

"Mistress! Below ya!" shouted Jeryk from the other side of the geo barrier.

"Wha-?" Etna felt slimey hands grab her ankles. Below her were the faces and arms of zombies that had popped out from beneath the floor. "_Ugh!_ Get off me!" She tried to tug her feet away, but their combined grasp held her in place.

"_HAHAHA!_ Prepare to die!" Maderas gathered his cloak around him with dark energy crackling, as he prepared to unleash his strongest attack.

"Mistress!" Lyle cried from behind his suit of armour.

The party behind the geo barrier was blinded by the Chaos Plasma that engulfed the hall beyond. When the dark energy had cleared, there was nothing that remained where Etna had stood but a blackened pile of zombie arms.

"No way..." Jeryk gazed with disbelief.

"Miss Etna..." Zaeon murmured.

"**MWAHAHAHAAA!**" Maderas bellowed in triumph. "You never should have double-crossed me, Etna. I have waited so long for my- _Ugh!_" The vampire stumbled back from the force of the pink beam that had hit him from above. "What...?" He looked up to behold a certain demoness hanging from a brass candle bar attached to the wall. Three zombie arms still clung to her ankles, parted from the bodies they had been attached to.

"You were saying?" Etna leered down at her foe.

"Damn you..." Maderas snarled, clutching the wound on his shoulder. _How is it that she is still stronger than me?_ _I must retreat for now..._

Etna swung forward, somersaulting off the brass bar. Drawing Longinus, she dived at the vampire, who disappeared in another dark whirl. When Maderas did not re-appear right away, Etna began pacing the hallway with a searching gaze. "Come on out, you slinkbag! It looks like I still need to teach you what happens when you mess with the strong and sexy Etna!"

A tremor from beyond a bend in the hall caught her attention, and she ran to investigate. Rounding the corner, she found Maderas, frozen in his tracks before Xavia the swordmaster, who held her blade to his throat.

"Where do you think you're going?" the swordmaster asked darkly. "...And do not think of teleporting. I can read your aura flow. My next attack will hold lethal intent."

Maderas gritted his teeth. He was cornered.

"Xavia! How did you get here? Weren't you on the other side of the geo barrier?" Etna said, prying the remaining zombie hands from her ankles with the end of her spear.

"I created a detour," said the samurai, who cocked her head towards the large gash in the floor behind her. "When I saw the zombies emerge from below, I remembered that there was a floor directly below this one. Being short of time, I cut through the floor, and made my way underneath the geo barrier to this side. I hope Lord Laharl will forgive me for the damage."

"Oh, he won't mind," Etna waved off. "More importantly, what should we do with my little cake thief?" Malice gleamed in her eyes as she stared at the trembling vampire.

"Oh, great and beautiful mistress Etna," Maderas cooed, sweat running down his temple. "I was merely playing a game...Yes! I was simply testing your strength for what lies ahead."

Etna's eyes narrowed. "...And what might that be, hmm?"

"The four invaders await you in the throne room, and they are no ordinary foes. They each have the power of a demon lord, and their leader...dare I say it, is as strong as an Overlord! I had to make sure you were prepared to face them."

Etna cocked her head with a faint smile. "So, do I pass?"

"Oh, yes, with flying colours! They will be no match for your beauty and power!" Maderas grovelled.

"These four, what are their abilities?" Xavia cut in, her serrated sword still held steady to the vampire's neck.

"I-I cannot be certain," he replied. "One was a large living suit of armour and sword. Another was a fierce-looking female martial artist. There was also a male warrior with an axe. Their leader wore dark red armour, and had both a great axe, and a serrated sword..." Maderas eyed the blade by his throat. "A sword not unlike yours, my dear."

Xavia's eyes widened. _Impossible! There is only one other sword like this, but that one..._

A bitter cocktail of sadness and anger coursed through her. "You lie!"

Maderas gulped at Xavia's trembling blade. "F-forgive me! There is also the old witch that they freed from prison! It was her magic that increased my power! That is all of them, I swear!"

"An old witch from prison...?" Etna echoed.

"Her name is Debevra," Maderas explained. "She was imprisoned many centuries ago, when Krichevskoy was Overlord. She attempted to put a spell on him, but failed, and was locked away in the lowest dungeons. Her magic is nothing to take lightly, though. If anything, it has increased with her age."

"She must be the one who was spying on us with those creepy eyes." Etna scanned the ceiling for Evil Eyes as she said this.

"Heya gals!" came a voice from the hole in the floor. Jeryk climbed up, followed by Lyle and Zaeon. "I see ya caught our good buddy Maderas here."

"Nice hole you got here, Xavia!" Lyle spoke without thinking. Suddenly realising what he had just said, he began stammering madly. "Eh, Ah! N-no! Um, I-mean, in-the-floor! Yeah, th-floor!"

Xavia just gave him a confused look.

_You should not have taken your eyes from me, _thought Maderas with a smirk. But as soon as he tried to teleport, the back end of a spear connected with his skull, and he lost consciousness.

"Well, we don't need him anymore, do we?" Etna sang, standing over the limp form of Maderas lying face-down on the floor. "And I don't have time to torture him right now, so..." She then turned to the hallway ahead of them, and shouted: "Hey, prinnies!"

There was no response. Etna's fist curled up. "I know you're hiding back there! Get your PEG-LEGGED, **BLUE BUTTS OVER HERE!**"

A squad of prinnies promptly emerged from an intersection down the hall, and trotted up to their mistress. "You called, dood?"

"Were they hiding there this whole time?" Zaeon wondered.

Jeryk chuckled. "Probably didn't want ta get caught up in the action...or be used in a Prinny Raid."

"Aren't prinny butts actually white?" Lyle pointed out, but everyone ignored him.

Etna pointed to the unconscious vampire at her feet. "Take this cake-stealing clown to the dungeons, and make sure you tie him up nice and tight, and use aura-suppressing chains, got it?"

"Got it, dood!" The prinny squad saluted, relieved to have received a relatively danger-free task.

"...And of course, you know what I'll do to you if he somehow escapes...right?" Etna gave her subordinates a dark grin.

"W-w-we'll do our very best, dood!" The prinnies hurriedly hoisted Maderas, and began hastily moving down the hall, and out of sight down a right-hand passage.

"Well, now that that little distraction is out of the way, let's hurry up and kick out those damn invaders so I can take a bath. Those stupid zombies got some of their stink on me." Etna huffed, moving onward with Jeryk, Lyle, and Zaeon in tow.

_Please don't mention baths right now,_ thought Zaeon miserably, keeping a good two feet of distance from the others.

Xavia trailed behind the party, uncertain thoughts filling her mind. _Another sword like mine? It can't be...Who could possibly be using that sword?..._ She shook her head, ebony ponytail swaying. _No. I must stay focused. We must reclaim Lord Laharl's castle. I mustn't dwell on the past._

The sword master marched ahead with the others. No one noticed the eye gazing at them, hidden in the darkness of the empty helm of a suit of armour...

* * *

"The vampire has fallen, too." Debevra reported, opening her right eye. "It seems Krichevskoy's son keeps strong company. _Keeheehee_..."

"Can I beat them up _now_, Lord Taron?" demanded Seshira, the female brawler, who was leaning against a broken pillar she had earlier smashed out of boredom.

"I'm also getting impatient," added Bathiel, the male warrior, who had jet black hair and a studded leather vest. He was sitting by the destroyed Overlord's throne, polishing his axe, which reflected his faint scowl.

"I await your command, My Lord," boomed Galhaad, the living suit of dark armour, who held his blade vertical in salute.

Taron surveyed his three vassals with crossed arms. "Yes. It is about time we stamped out the last traces of Krichevskoy's influence. Starting..." Taron eyed the three figures of Goleck, Dratti, and Manty, who were bound with chains and gagged, lying in a corner. "...With his son."

Dratti and Manty made muffled growls, and glared at their captor, unable to move while bound in the power-suppressing chains. Goleck feigned sleep, waiting for some possible opportunity of escape, but could find nothing under the constant presence of their powerful foes.

"Go forth. Kill them all." Taron's flat words echoed across the Overlord's chamber like a deep, ominous bell toll.

* * *

_To be continued..._


	15. The Sentinel's Threat

_**KappeZ:**_ _I'm baaaaack. Again. Oh well, better glacier pace than nothing, right?_

**Prinny:** Zzzzz..._  
_

_**KappeZ:** Okay, in my defense, I've now got a novel to work on as well as a comic book, plus college, plus work...Y'know how it is. ^_^_

**Prinny:** Zzzz...He plays too much Soul Nomad...Zzzz...

_**KappeZ:** _*tapes prinny's beak shut* _That's better. Isn't his snoring a problem? ^_^' Anyway, on with the story..._

* * *

Laharl's restless march had lead him to the end of a vacant hall, where he found the "No Entry" geo symbol in plain sight on the floor. Without a second thought, he slashed it with his black blade, causing it to shatter with a clear light.

"That takes care of that nuisance," he muttered as he turned to go back. When he saw no one was behind him, he realised that he had somehow left Ricon, Flonne, Nikka, and the prinny behind.

"Where are those slowpokes?" Laharl grumbled. "Ricon should at least be able to keep up with me." He began re-tracing his steps down the hall, marching with a furious purpose.

He passed pillar after pillar, statue after statue, bend after bend, but there was no sign of his vassals.

"Where the hell did they **go?!**" the young Overlord growled, tempted to hurl a ball of hellfire down the next corridor just to relieve some frustration. A staircase to his left leading upward caught his attention.

_I don't remember that being there. Since when was there stairs down this hall?_ As he looked around to further familiarize himself with the hall, he realised he didn't recognize anything. _No way...I'm NOT lost. This is MY castle..._Laharl began breathing frustrated breaths, and scratched an itch on the back of his head just below his right antenna-hair. _I'll just wait until the others show up here. It's not that I'm **lost**, but...I wouldn't want to leave them behind..._

He stood there for a solid minute, arms crossed. Flames crackled in their torches, casting swaying shadows throughout the hall. Onyx statues of great demons lined the inner wall, gleaming in the torchlight. Laharl's foot tapped upon the sleek blue marble floor.

"Grrh..." he grunted impatiently. He eyed the staircase, framed by two demonic statues. One of the statues was a humanoid demon who wore a sharp-toothed grin, and stood erect with crossed arms, as if gloating. Something about the statue really irritated Laharl, and he had the impulse to slash off its stupid grinning head. Instead, he simply walked up to its base, and read the inscription on the faded bronze plaque.

- -Overlord Zyth-Cadea- -  
42nd Overlord of the Netherworld  
_He still laughs, even in death._

"Fourty-second Overlord?" Laharl repeated aloud.

_I didn't know anyone was keeping count. I wonder what number I am?..._He abruptly shook his head. _I don't have time for this! I gotta get my castle back!_

With only the briefest of glances back to see if his vassals were still missing, Laharl marched up the stairs to the next floor. _So there were these stairs leading around the geo barrier all this time? Why the hell didn't Etna mention that?!...Wait, does that mean?..._ An ominous feeling came to him for a second, but he shook it off. _Whatever. Even if this is a trap, no one can stop me. I'll just blast my way through it._

Reaching the top of the stairs, Laharl found himself at an intersection of hallways that split left and straight. The straight passage was completely blocked by fallen rubble from the floor above, leaving Laharl with no option but to go left.

_Yeah, this definitely smells like a trap,_ thought Laharl, who drew his black blade from his scarf. The upper hall was no different from the lower one he had just ascended from, except this one was smaller and dimmer. More onyx statues of former Overlords lined the walls, some of the larger ones casting lengthy shadows down the long stone hall.

_I wish this stupid trap would hurry up and show itself,_ Laharl grumbled in his head. He had been walking with his sword drawn for almost five minutes, and had yet to see any signs of enemy behaviour. The hall had made a right-hand turn, which he followed without hesitation. The hall remained the same, except he could make out a large room at the end. As he moved towards the room, he came across a statue that had been severed apart. He didn't need to read the plaque to know who the statue belonged to...

- -Overlord Krichevskoy- -  
43rd Overlord of the Netherworld  
_His nobility (and love of dark manjuu) knew no equal._

The upper half of the onyx statue representing Laharl's deceased father lay on the ground, cut diagonally, as if by a sword.

"Who did this?..." the young demon wondered. Rather than feel indifference, as he thought he should, the act had somehow made him feel angrier than ever. _Why the hell do I care? It's just a stupid statue of my old man..._

"_Your time ends here..._" echoed a deep voice from the open room down the hall. Laharl looked forward to see a tall, dark figure standing as a lone sentry before the metal double-doors that led beyond.

"About time someone showed themselves!" grumbled the young Overlord, leaping into the room with reckless abandon to face his new foe.

He was a towering suit of living dark armour, who held a living sword. Having faced dark knights before, Laharl knew the sword and armour were one entity, and shared the same life force. The room they stood in was large, and filled with statues of demon lords who had once served under the overlords. The room was lit with many torches lining the walls and hanging from the ceiling.

"I can tell you're not just some weak lackey," Laharl spoke, oddly calm. "But I know you're not the leader. You'd better tell me where your boss is after I've beaten you up."

The dark knight made no motion. "I am Galhaad. In the name of my lord, Taron, I will not let you pass, son of Krichevskoy."

"Taron, huh? Never heard of him," said Laharl, his black sword glistening in the torchlight.

"I would expect as much ignorance from Krichevskoy's son," Galhaad spoke, his own sword gleaming.

"Enough about my old man!" Laharl barked, brandishing his blade. "I'm Overlord Laharl, and this is MY castle! You can all just DROP DEAD!" Laharl lunged at his opponent, sword glowing with power.

Their two swords clashed, causing an echo of power to reverberate throughout the room. The statues of demon lords shuddered slightly. Again and again they struck, a new wave of power issuing from their clashing blades each time. Unable to land a hit on his surprisingly fast opponent, Laharl leapt back. He was about to execute a quick Blade Rush, when Galhaad held his sword aloft, and grew in size. Now double his original size, the dark knight sent his huge blade crashing down on Laharl, who could only hold his sword up to block. He was barely able to withstand the forceful blow, and he felt his legs nearly buckle. Cracks spread on the stone floor beneath him. Unable to move, Laharl struggled to resist the crushing force of the giant sword above him. _This guy's as strong as that dragon guard leader from Prier's castle, _Laharl noted. He focused more of his demonic power into his sword, but Galhaad's sword, also filled with power, was still an immovable crushing force._ Maybe even stronger..._

With a furious yell, Laharl summoned all of his demonic aura. He managed to lift Galhaad's sword high enough to slip out from underneath it. The giant knight's blade crashed into the ground, creating even larger cracks in the stone floor. Laharl leapt up to counterattack, only to miss Galhaad's helm by inches as he shrunk back down to his original size. Laharl kicked off the wall to land in the center of the room. His armoured foe had wasted no time, and closed the gap between them, blade swinging forward. Their swords collided once again, sending another ripple of power across the chamber.

_How can we be evenly matched?!_ Laharl thought with outrage. _A mere lackey shouldn't be as strong as me! Did he get a power boost, like Hoggmeiser?_

Their swords parted again. The dark knight moved back, holding his sword up.

"Growing big again? I won't let you!" Laharl charged after Galhaad, a Blazing Knuckle ready.

Rather than enlarge, as Laharl expected, Galhaad thrust his sword forward, shooting a dark bolt of energy at him. The fire from his Blazing Knuckle was extinguished by the force of the Dark Bolt, as the two energy attacks effectively cancelled each other out. Laharl, however, was sent flying backward from the exploding force. He landed just in time to leap out of the way of another Dark Bolt, which blasted the demon lord statue behind him to pieces.

Galhaad continued to fire bolts of dark energy from his sword at the young Overlord. Laharl dodged two more, then leapt towards his great armoured foe, deflecting another with his aura-filled blade. Galhaad was ready for him, slashing forward. With a whirl of momentum from his earlier slash, Laharl spun around to meet Galhaad's sword with his own. Another ripple of force shook the chamber, this time toppling over some of the firmly-rooted statues, or causing some of them to crumble apart.

"_Ghh!_..." Laharl flew back again, unable to land enough force to off-balance the sentinel. ..._Dammit...He just won't budge! If I try to attack him, he just sends me flying back again!..._

"Do you see now?" boomed Galhaad. "If you are hardly a match for me, you cannot hope to stand against Lord Taron. Accept your fate." The dark knight lifted his sword, enlarging once more.

Laharl simply stood there, staring at the ground.

"So, are you prepared to die?" Galhaad's deep voice reverberated across the room. "Fine. I shall grant you a swift death, son of Krichevskoy." His massive blade came hurtling down.

"I told you..." Laharl leapt back to the entrance of the hall he had came from, avoiding the crashing blade's tip by inches. "...I am OVERLORD LAHARL!" His black-bladed sword erupted with power as he unleashed a Dimension Slash, which carved up the ceiling as it ripped towards the armoured sentry.

Galhaad lurched to the right, and shrunk back down to normal size to avoid the great wave of power. Though he had narrowly dodged it, he was ready to counter anything the young Overlord had planned. But Laharl did not advance. Instead, he stood with his arms outstretched. He had filled the room with balls of hellfire! There were too many for the black knight to dodge or disperse. However, the young demon king had left himself wide open. Galhaad fired a Dark Bolt at him just as he hurtled the balls of hellfire down on top of him. A massive explosion shook the floor. Pieces of the demon lord statues flew everywhere.

Laharl clutched the wound on his chest where Galhaad's dark bolt had struck him. He scanned the dusty ruins for a trace of the black knight. _Did I get him?..._

He saw the gleam of Galhaad's sword just in time. He ducked out of the way of another Dark Bolt, hiding behind the statue of a large, horse-like demon lord.

_Dammit...How did he survive my Overlord's Wrath?!...There's no way he's stronger than me, even if he did get a power boost..._Laharl's chest wound throbbed with pain. He clenched his fist, which burst with his demonic flame. _Now I'm really starting to get pissed off..._

Just as Laharl had chosen to abandon his hiding place, it burst to pieces from the force of yet another Dark Bolt. He grabbed the upper half of a werewolf statue, which had crumbled off its base from an earlier burst of power, and hurtled it at Galhaad. The black knight fired another Dark Bolt just in time to shatter the large projectile. From the parting pieces of stone rubble, he saw Laharl fly towards him, fist burning with demonic aura.

"Ha! An old trick..." Galhaad swiftly swung his sword at the advancing young Overlord. But Laharl fell short of the great knight's blade, his fist colliding instead with the ground mere inches from the black knight. Pieces of the stone floor flew everywhere on Laharl's impact, bombarding Galhaad. The debris did little damage to him, but it proved distracting enough to allow Laharl to slam his sword into the armoured sentry. Galhaad slid back on impact, colliding with the wall of the exit he was guarding. The black knight slumped over, his armour dented and deformed from Laharl's attacks. He had not taken Laharl's Overlord's Wrath unscathed, and the last attack had hit him hard. But Galhaad rose, gripping his sword. "...I see you have inherited some of your father's power. However, I will not relent."

"**Stop comparing me to my old man!**" Laharl's blade burst with aura.

Their swords clashed again and again in a furious battle of whirling blades. Both sword-wielders ignored their wounds and concentrated only on the other's blade. More demon lord statues crumbled from the force of their clashes.

_He's getting slower..._Laharl grinned with satisfaction. He easily dodged Galhaad's next swing, and met his blade again. _Now, I just need another opening..._

The young Overlord found his chance when Galhaad went for a lunge, attempting to run him through. Laharl sidestepped easily, and countered with a ball of hellfire, which blew Galhaad over. The black knight crashed into one of the few remaining demon lord statues. He grasped the statue for support, his helm hung low.

Laharl wore a satisfied grin. "_Hmhmhmm..._Looks like you're still an ant compared to me, the _Overlord! _**Haaaahahahahaaaa!**"

A deep, rumbling growl of anger issued from Galhaad's helm. With a furious burst of dark aura, he rose, and began enlarging. He grew larger and larger, until he reached his greatest size yet. The fiery plume of his helm was mere inches from the ceiling as he glared down at the tiny child Overlord. "I SHALL CRUSH YOU...**HERE ****AND****NOW****!**" Galhaad bellowed, his voice almost literally shaking the whole chamber.

Laharl couldn't help but be shaken at his opponent's great size. It wasn't just that he was big, but the demonic aura billowing from him exuded a furious thirst to kill. The sentinel was now a slayer, out for his life. He leapt up just in time to avoid a room-clearing, sweeping slash from Galhaad's giant blade, but before a means to counterattack entered his mind, Galhaad had struck him with a gigantic thrust of his left fist.

"_Nrgh!_" Laharl crashed against the far wall. He sunk to the floor, pain coursing through his small, battered body.

Galhaad lifted a giant armoured boot, positioned to stomp on the child Overlord. "IT SHALL BE **YOU** WHO IS CRUSHED LIKE AN ANT, CHILD OF KRICHEVSKOY!"

"...I...told you..." Laharl's voice came weakly, his body trembling with rage. "I am..."

Galhaad's greave crashed down, sending huge cracks across the rubble-littered stone floor. ..._And so ends Krichevskoy's-_

"...**OVERLORD LAHARL!**"

A violent force struck Galhaad. Laharl, brimming with demonic power, had driven a Blazing Knuckle into his chestplate. "URRGGH!" The giant dark sentinel toppled over, and came crashing down on the remaining demon lord statues that had somehow survived their furious bout.

The whole chamber was now covered in dust, cracks, and rubble. The black knight lay face-up, once again normal-sized, his armour severely cracked and dented. The dark sentinel's gloved hand shakily rose, willing his other half; the blade lying on the other side of the room, to return to him. But it merely twitched in response, and then lay motionless.

Laharl stood over his defeated foe, panting. "_Hah_...Had enough, metal-head? Now you know...you shouldn't mess with the Overlord...Even if you all have those dark power boosts...you're still no-"

"I...received no such power." Galhaad's voice issued from beneath his dented helm. "I fought you...with my own strength alone."

"_Hah_, yeah right," Laharl managed his usual cocky grin. "There's no way...you could give me this much trouble by yourself...You're not even...an Overlord."

"You are even more naïve than I thought...son of Krichevskoy..." Galhaad breathed. "You think just because you have gained the title of Overlord...that all other demons are beneath you?" A deep chuckle emitted from the defeated sentinel. "_Geheheheheh_...You shall soon see...you are far from true power..."

"SHUT UP!" With a uncontrollable impulse of rage, Laharl stomped upon Galhaad's deformed chestplate, compressing it further, and causing his fallen foe to let out a pained gasp. But this did not stop Galhaad from laughing.

"_Hahaha_...Go...You have earned the right...to die by Lord Taron's hands..."

Galhaad fell quiet. Laharl wasn't sure if he had died, or had simply fallen unconscious. With a grim feeling burning in the pit of his stomach, he took his eyes from the broken form of the black knight to gaze at the destroyed room, lit dimly by the few remaining torches that had stayed intact from their devastating battle. _There's no way...He must be lying. He MUST have gotten some kind of power boost. It's the only way..._ Laharl clutched his abdomen, still in pain from the series of attacks he had received. _...This Taron guy can't be any stronger...can he?_ He stared ahead at the metal double-doors that the dark sentinel had so adamantly guarded. Beyond them was the path that led to the upper floors of the castle, where, somewhere, the leader of the invaders was lurking.

He hesitated.

_...Dammit, what's wrong with me?! Why am I suddenly being such a wimp?! I'm the OVERLORD! This is MY CASTLE! Sure, this knight guy slowed me down a bit, but who cares! This Taron guy will pay for underestimating me! He's probably just a wimp who hides behind his underlings...Yeah, he's just a weakling. I'll bet he's shaking in his boots right now, knowing that the great, evil, overwhelmingly powerful Overlord Laharl is coming for him! Hmmhmmhmm..._

"**Haaaaahahahahahaaa!**" Laharl laughed at the steel doors before him. Mustering up his demonic power, and ignoring the small pangs from his wounds, the small demon king pushed them open, and strode boldly onward.

* * *

_To be continued..._


End file.
